ON THE 

J^ATURAL, HISTORY 



AND 



INTERNAL RESOURCES 



OP THE 



STATE OF NEW-YORK» 



BY HIBERNICUS. 



^e^Ar^k^^^t^yt^^^ 



NEW-YORK: 

sDld by e. bliss &; e. white, 

so. 128 BROADWAY. 

1822. 




NOTE. 



The following Letters first appeared in the columna of a 
newspaper during the year 1820. They attracted much atten- 
tion at that time, and were copied and read with great avidity. 
They are evidently the production of no ordinary mind, and 
hence curiosity was awakened to discover the learned traveller, 
whose acute perception and just delineation had opened to our 
view some of the hidden beauties of our state. It is not for the 
publisher to say how far the opinion of the literary community 
was correct in ascribing these letters to an eminent statesman, 
whose researches in science might well justify such a suspicion. 
They are now collected in a volume and offered to the public, 
from a conviction that their merits entitle them tO a fonii 
adapted to the libraries of this reading people. 



/ 



LETTERS OP HIBERNICUS. 

TO THE EDITOR OF THE WZW-YORK STATESMAN. 

June 9th, 1820. 
Sir, 

I SEND you extracts of letter? which T Lave 
received from a highly respectP^J^le foreigner, on 
the subject of the Western ^nd Northern Canals. 
It appears that he is on a vOur of observation — my 
acquaintance with hjii commenced last autumn, 
at Mrs. Mann's hoarding-house in New-York, 
and has since grown into intimacy. His letters 
occasional^ glance on subjects of natural science, 
sometii>-€S on the peculiarity of our manners, and 
the s^te of our social and political institutions. 
TI>c?y were obviously written in great haste, ex- 
hibiting no marks of limce labor, and probably 
were never revised, corrected, or copied by the 
writer. If these which I now send to you shall 
be favorably considered, I shall, if I have leisure 

furnish you with more. 

^ B 



LETTERS OF HlEERNICUi^ 



LETTER i 



Afoiitezuma, 2GiJi May, 1S20. 
I AERiVED here yesterday, my dear Sir, ni the 
]iackel beat Chief Engineer, which piies betvveeiJf 
this place and Utica, as consort to the Moiitezu- 
lua. The latter is a boat 74 feet long aiid 13 
lV:ct wide, ^,\hich draws, when not loaded, seven 
iiiciies of water, and when Icr.dcd eleven. The:e 
passage boats take a trip and a half twice a week 
between Utlca and Montezuma on the canah 
The distance Is about 96 rryles. and aUhough the 
whole voyage can be performed in 24 hours, yet 
it generally takes nearly two days. They arc 
drawn by two horses at the ra^ of four miles an 
}j )ur, which are relieved by relays at the distance 
of e\ery twehe jrules. The expense oCa passage 
from Utica to Montezuma rs four dollars ^^ily, in- 
cluding provisions and a birth for lodging ; and 
i assure you tliat the accommodations are as 
good as can be found on board of the steam boats. 
Tiiere is also a regular packet between Utica and 
Ilo:ne, which takes a trip once a daj'. By a trijf 
I mean the voyage out and home. We passed 
several boats, rafts, and scows on our passage. 
Some were built on tlie canal, and others trans- 
ported V) it froQi the Mohawk and Seneca rivers- 



CANAL TRANSPORTATION. 7 

At Montezuma, a boat is now on the stocks, of 
still larger dimensions, and more accommodating 
arrangements than the one of that name. The 
whole expense of each of ^hcse boats^ furoitiTre in- 
<:luded, will not exceed 900 or 1000 dollars. 
They are principally designed, and partly owned, 
by Colonel Tyler, of this village — a gentleman 
who unites kindness of behaviour and benevolence 
•of diisposition, with intelligence and enterprise 
Although I am persuaded that the owners of these 
vehicles of convej'ance will be amply remunera- 
ted for their public spirit, yei I am equally con- 
vinced that the conveyance of passengers will be 
principall}^ by land, and of commodities by water, 
after the prevailing curiosity to vi:it the canal is 
gratified. In tlie mean time, there will be a com- 
petition between the carriers by land and water, 
for custom ; and a like compelltion between the 
proprietors of stages and boats for passengers, 
which will add greatly, by decreasing the price 
of transportation, to the general benefit of the 
country— and by good and ea?y accommodations 
to ilie convenience of travellers. But as commo- 
dities can be transported with more safet}', cer- 
tainty, and eiipedition, and at less ei:pense on the 
canal, and persons in the same way b}' land, a di- 
vision of employment will finally and necessarily 
take place, mutuauv beneficial to each, and m- 



S CANAL TRANSPORTATION-. 

calculably advantageous to the cardinal interests 
of the community. Wiien the great six horse, 
heavy teams are banished from use, the roads will 
be improved. The tippling houses, which derive 
their principal support from teamsters, will fall 
into disuse. The good inns on the road will 
meet with greater encouragement, because travel- 
ling will increase with population and business. 
The existing settlements and villages on the es- 
tablished roads will continue to prosper, w hile an 
immense mass of population will appear on the 
banks of the canals. 

I am called ofl' by Dr. Clarh. (a very worthy 
gentleman, who is settled at this place) to visit the 
salt w^orl;s under his direction ; but you shall hear 
from me again very soon. 

Yours, 

HIBERNICUS. 



LETTER II. 

Ithaca, 1st June, 1820. 
Mi' Dear Sir, 

I have this moment arrived in this place, by 
water, from Montezuma. The Great Canal enters 
the Seneca river by a lock ; arid after this you 



WESIEUN CANAL. 1* 

may either descend by water into Lake Ontario 
by tlie way of Oswego, or you may proceed by 
the way of Three liiver Point to the Oneida Lake, 
and, pursuing the waters of Wood Creek, re-enter 
the Great Canal a few miles west of Rome — thus 
performing, in the latter case, a voyage of circum- 
navigation round an immense island — oryou may 
ascend the Junction river, formed by the Canan- 
daigua outlet and Mud Creek, as far as Lyons — 
or you may proceed up the Seneca river to the 
Cayuga lake as far as this place, which is distant 
about twenty-eight miles from the head waters oi* 
tlie Stisquehannah — or 3'ou may continue your 
course up the Seneca river through the locks and 
canals of the Seneca Lock Navigation Company, 
as far as Geneva, and from tiience 40 miles 10 the 
southern extremity of the Seneca Lake. Who 
would have thought of sucli various and vast fa- 
cilities of communication created by the W^estern 
Canal ? From Schenectady to the south ei)d of 
Cayuga or Seneca Lakes, you may proceed by 
an uninterrupted navigation to the extent of near 
250 miles — which will be enlarged when the canal 
reaches the Genesee river, forty miles through, the 
interior of the most fertile country- in the world. 
Imagination, in this case, lags behind reality, 
and the utn:ost stretch of poetic vision becomes 
embodied into existcr.ce. J passed from Monte- 



10 WESTEFiN CANAL. 

zuma In a small boat to Cayuga bridge, whore I 
entered a fine new steam boat called the Enter- 
prise, of 120 tons, and 24 horse power, and arri- 
ved in a few hours tlirough a charming coimtry 
to this delightful village. The scenery of these 
lakes is alternately picturesqne, beautiful, and 
sublime. Before the revolution of a ceiitur}^ this 
country will become consecrated to classic inspi- 
ration — " live in description, and grew green in 
song." 

Bat I shall waive digressions fvom my mairi 
object, which was to aiTord you a distinct view of 
the Great Canal. The whole extent of this stu- 
pendous work will be from Lake Erie to Hud- 
son's river, a distance on an air line of perhaps 
280 miles — In the route of the canal, of about 
3C3. This work has been distributed into three 

great sections wectern, middle, end eastern. 

The middle extends from Utica to rdontezun-a 
on the Seneca river. It was supposed that the 
extent of this section is 94 miles, bat in arranging 
the mile-boards it is found that it will be 96 ; and 
this miscnlculatiGn arose from summing up the 
distances of the subordinate sections for execution, 
without taking into the calculaiion the nunicroas 
bridges, the aqueducts, locks, he. There is a Ici- 
teral canal, from the main canal to the Salina 
Sail Work^, of one mile and (brty-thrce chain?, 



WESTERN CANAL. li 

A\id v.liicli oo^t $6,044 7. The width of tie 
«anal on the water surface is 40 feet— at tlie bot- 
tom 28, and its depth is four fict. The leiigtii 
of a lock is 90 feet, and its width in the clear is 
14. Vessels of 100 tons may pass through tliis 
oanal with ease, and will convey greater loads 
than any of tiie Hudson sloops. One level ex- 
tends from seven miles cast of Utica to near Syra- 
cuse, a distance of 09 miles; and on tlie west 
side of Genesee river, tliere is another lexel of TO 
miles. Similar iristances of extensive levels are 
^uiprecedented as applied to any given canal, 
rhere are on the middle section nine locks, and 
^ number of occupation and road bridges, waste 
gates, safety gates, tumbling bays or weir?, cul- 
verts, aqueducts, aqueduct bridges, embankments, 
and deep cuttings, but not a single tunnel, draw- 
bridge, or reservoir ; and on the whole route I 
observed but one artificial feeder, the canal being 
d,bu,ndantly supplied by natural streams. This 
canal is constructed in the most solid and durable 
manncrj and the water which fills it is as copious 
and as perennial as the lakes and springs from 
which it issues. This work was coinmenced ut 
the eastern end of th.e section, and as you proceed 
to the west, you observe increased improvement, 
arising unquestionably from augmented experi- 
\Mice and deep rejection. Tlie locks arc built of 



12 WESTERN CANAL, 

lime or sand stone, and are cemented by mortap 
made of a calcareous stone found in various parts 
of this country. I never saw better work, pro- 
mising a longer uninterrupted duration. This 
canal was commenced on the 4th of July, 1817, 
and last autumn it was navigable. In twenty- 
nine months this gigantic operation was comple- 
ted. 

The western canal, so far as finished, inclu- 
ding the Salina canal, is 98 miles long, 08 
In the same period a canal from Lake 
Champlain to Hudson river has been 
constructed 24 miles long, 24 

122: 
Thus these works have been made at the rate 
of upwards of four miles a month, or dfty miles a 
yeiir. That part of the western section reaching 
from the Seneca to the Genesee river, a distance 
of 63 miles, and that portion of the eastern section 
from Utica to the Litde Falls, about 26 miles in 
length, making in the aggregate about 90 miles, 
will be finished next year, which is at the rate of 45 
miies a year. On this pan of the western section 
there will be 16 locks, and of the eastern at least 
') locks. After the year 1821, there will then re- 
main to finish of the great canal, about 95 miles 
In the wc:nern. and 75 in the eastcni tcctit^n, 



\V£STE11N CANAL, IS 

which CRn. as I uudcrstaiiu, he ea^ily cliected by 
ilie first of December, IS23. Indeed, it is cor.ii- 
dently said, that willi adequate funds, 100 mile:- 
of this canal can be annually raade. In the work 
to be finislied, there are more locks in proportion 
to the distance, than in the middle section ; — while 
the latter only has 9 locks, tliere will be 25 in the 
western, and 56 in the eastern section. From 
Lake Erie to the Seneca river is a fall of 194 feet, 
and from Utica to Hudson river, a fall of 4 IS 
feet. But there is no magic in erecting a lock, 
either as to time or skill. The great pressure of 
water demands strength, and the massy weight of 
the .superstructure requires a solid foundatio;;. 
The larger the stones the better. In the locks 
near Salina I saw sand stones which weighed four 
tons; they were moved by cranes and placed on 
the v.alls with as much ease as a man would 
handle a brick; and the lock at Montezuma was 
constructed last year in six weeks. 

The average expense of the middle section is 
§11,792 per mile. The cost of the western is es- 
timated at $10,944; and of the eastern, at 
§21,096 per mile. ?\ever has so much work been 
done in so short a time, at so small an expense. 

Twenty miles west of the Genesee river, the 

canal will strike the navigable waters of the To- 

uawaata creek, which discliarges itself into Lake 
B 2 



14: WESTERN CANAL. 

Erie. Before the final completion of this great 
work, a person may therefore take a barge at 
New-York, and pass by water into Lake Erie, hy 
an uninterrupted navigation. 



LETTER IIL 

Geneva, Gth June, 1820.. 
:\Iy Dear Sir, 

As I write without " reference to note or com- 
ment," it is probable that I may commit some 
trifling errors, and slide into repetition. I aspire 
to no higher honor than that of an old chronicle, 
])y giving you a dull, but true account, of this 
wonderful canal and wonderful country. I have 
travelled from one end of Europe to tlie other, 
and have seen much of the western world, but I 
have never before witnessed such scenes and ope- 
rations, as have been iTcently presented to my 
vision. 

When I went on the canal, there v/ere no fixed 
days for the starting of the barges with passen- 
gers : It appears from the advertisement which I 
now subjoin, that they are regulated. I believe, 
iliat clieapcr and more commodious travelling 
cannot lie found. For eight dollars you can go 



WESTERN CAKAL. 15 

ui four days 2C0 miles, witljoiit a jolt, or the 
least fatigue, and eaiploy the wiiole time in read- 
ing, writing, rational conversation, amnsemeut, or 
viewing the most interesting region of the globe. 
The notice is as follows, to wit: 

" Boats for tlie accommodation of passengn-.s 
3 00 miles on the canal, are no'-v in operation by 
the 'Erie ('anal Navigation Company.' They 
sail every Monday and Tliur.-day morning from 
Utica, at 9 u'cloclv and arrive at Canistotn, 
(Lenox) at 7 p. m. proceed next day at 2 a. in.. 
and arrive at Ajontezuiria at 7 p. m. 

Relnrnin;? — Sail from ■\Ionteziima on Alonday< 
and Thursdays, at >3 o'clock a. m. arrive at Syra- 
cuse (Salina) at 7 p. m. proceed next day at 2 a. 
m. p.iid arrive at Utica at G p. m. Price of pas- 
S^.ge through the route, including provision and 
lodging, ^i. Wd.y passengers three cents pcv 
mile. A small advance to be made on the price 
of pass'ige when the Toll and Lockage are esta- 
blished. Baggage at tlie owner's risk. For pas- 
sago apply to Doolittle &; Gold, or at the Slag!; 
Oiiice, Utica. To Richard Smith, innkeeper, 
?Jontezuma, or to the captains on board.'' 

Canistota is about 36 miles fl-om Utica, and 
Syracuse the same distance from Montezuai", 
After leaving Utica, you pass through a fine, fer- 
ule, well cultivated country to Rome, The villa- 
ges of Wliitesborough and Oriskany intervene — 
the former is a most elegant place; the latter is 
the seat of great hydraulic establishments. It U- 



16 WESTEHN CANAL. 

curious to observe the heterogenous coHection of 
iiaiTses of places derived from the aborigines, the 
ancient Greeks, Romans, Jews, &:c. on the route 
of the cana). You begin with Utica, and proceed 
to Whitesborough, Oriskany, Rome, Oneida, Ve- 
rona, CanibV)ta, Macedonia, Jordan, Syracuse, 
Bucksville, he. to Montezuma. Some of these 
are villages which li-jye sprung up with the canal, 
and others will follow vjth such rapidity that I 
have no doubt that bv^th bai.\s will, in the course 
of a few years, exhibit owe unini^rnipted range of 
compact population. Ahxady have spacious ba- 
sins for the accommodation of boats u>en esta- 
blished. At Syracuse there is a dock, wareUuscs 
weighing machines, cranes, and all the other b^- 
pendages of a great establishment. At several 
places [ saw boats on the stocks ready fvjr launch- 
ing. Sometimes the great western turnjiike ap- 
proaches within view of the canal, but gene^-aliy 
it is a few miles to the south. On this road thej<? 
are numerous villages and settlements, fine houses, 
churches, academies, and other public edifices, 
which instead of being affected by the establish- 
ment of new ones on the canal, will derive addi- 
lional aliment and support. In proportion to thf* 
Increase of population, will be the increase of con- 
sumption. This will augment the demands foi 
subsistence and clothing — for the necessaric;^ 



WESTERN CANAL. 17 

comforts, and luxuries of life. The countrj la- 
terveiiing between the two great land and water 
routes will be shortly settled, and the north side 
of the canal to the Seneca river will be equally so. 
On the south side of the middle section of the ca- 
nal, there are two great turnpike roads, running 
in the same direction, and the Cayuga, Owasco, 
Skaneateles, Otisco, Cazenovia, and Little Lakes. 
On the north side, the waters of the Seneca river, 
Oneida outlet, Oneida lake, and Vvood creek, 
furnish a navigable communication will] Lake 
Ontario, or the Mohawk, and a great turnpih"" 
road is now making : And there are besides, tlic* 
great lake Ontario, Oneida, Onondaga, a^id Cress 
lakes. The west and the east will tiius commu- 
nicate by a great artificial navigr.don, by rivers 
and lakes, and by three gr^at turnpike roads. 
The multiplication of thei^ channels of connexion 
will bind the most distant regions together by in- 
dissoluble bonds. But the canal is pre-eminent 
over ail the others in the vasiness of its usefulness, 
and in the extent of its accommodation. 

After ?eavii1g Rome, you pass into a great 
swamp, covered with timber, and formed by the 
recession of tlie waters of a vast lake, which has 
now dwindled down into Oneida lake. This re- 
gion extends 16 miles to Oneida creek, when you 
pass into a cultivated country. The contrast is 



18 Wir5^T£RN CANAL. 

like passing fi-om a half lighted room, into ail 
apartment blazing with lamps. 

After this, you continue your coarse throngtt 
a country generally unsettled, until you arrive at 
Syracuse, opposite to Salina, and 61 miles from 
Utica, where Judge Forman, a gentleman of 
great intelligence and activity, is erecting a town. 
Tl:e rciiion west to Montezuma is of tlie same 
character. When you pass Geddesburgh, the 
Onondaga lake stretches out its waters to the 
liortb, and as it were under your feet; a more 
beautlfal prospect my eyes never beheld. In this 
region mighty deeds of valor have been perform- 
ed. Here the great congress, parliament, or 
Vvittenagr^mote, of the Iroquois, or Six Nations 
assembled \o deliberate on the concerns of the 
federal repubiVc, Here the Jesuits established 
themselves, and encountered death and ail its ter- 
rcrs to establish the dowiuion of the cross. But 
I am called olf to \^itness a singular sight— a 
great bald eagle chasing an os[,i;ey over the Sene- 
ca lake — a great fish lalls from the mouth of tiic 
latter, and the imperial bird darts at tlie fallin-^ 
fish with the rapidity of ligi^tning. and gvasps it 
in his talons. 



AI;R0IIA— CAYUGA LAKF. 19 

LETTER IV, 

Aiir<)ro, 9ih June, 1S20. 
My Dear Sir, 

In passlisg- frcm Aurora, along the eastern 
bank of tlie Cayuga Lake towards the bridge, 1 
met with several objects of great interest, and I 
raucii regretted that my time did not admit of a 
visit to a distinguished naturalist of the society of 
Friends, David Thomas, whio lives in this vicini- 
ty. Whether these interior lakes ha\ e been form- 
ed from the retreat of the ocean, and are in a state 
of gradual subsidence ; or v.hcther they have 
been produced by springs and deposits of water 
in great cavities, enlarging gradually their dimen- 
sions by breaking down the feeble barriers of 
schist with which they are surrounded, are stlil 
points siihjudicc. As I proceeded on the banks 
of tliis lake, which exhibit a grandeur and beauty 
of scenery, A\r transcending any thing of the kind 
I havT seen in Europe, I frequently came to the 
seats of ancient Indian nations, selected as such 
for their abundance of vegetable subsistence, fishes, 
birds and beasts. I was utterly astonished when 
I reached the Union Springs, formed by thejunc- 
i.ion of exuberant fountains springing up from, the 
earth, and forming iiistantaiieTiisly a water powcv 



20 UNION sruix:.s — ov/asco lake. 

for most hydraulic purposes. At this p!ace vaiaa- 
bie mills have been erected by William S. Bur- 
ling, a very worthy and intellig'cnt mail, under 
whose auspices a pleasant village has been esia- 
biislicd. 

Owasco Lake lies about 16 miles east of these 
springs, and is at least 150 ftet higher than the 
Cayuga Lake — and as the intermediate country 
leposes on lime stone, some suppose that Union 
Springs are the out burst of a subterranean com- 
nsunicaticn. A similar opinion prevails about 
the origin of the springs at Caledonia in Genesee. 
The jirogress of time and inquiry -vvili ascertain 
the solidity of these speculations. 

This is the finest wheat country in the world. — 
The white bald wheat Vv'ith red chaff is the princi- 
pal grain, and all the materiaJs of a great hydrau- 
lic establishment, can be brought to and sent 
from the works i)y water. Gypsum lines ten 
miles of the eastern bank of tliis lake. The Cocks- 
comb plaster, a singular variety of marl, is to be 
found in great plenty, and also inexliaustible 
stores of the latter in its common state. 

The Cayuga Lake abounds with fnie fjsh, and 
among others, with the white fish, or salmo clupca 
formis of the celebrated Dr. Mitchiil, who is ccr- 
tainlv at the head of the American scavans. The 



AURORA, h^ 21 

salmo saiar is also found here and at least four 
species of esox, or pike. 

To the south you can approach by this lake 
the head waters of the Susquehannah and Ohio. — 
To the north you can enter the great Lake Onta- 
rio. To the west you can visit the Seneca Lake, 
and its connecting canal, and by diverging to the 
east you can navigate the middle section of the 
great western canal. 

Such facility of navigation in connexion with 
a rich soil, abounding with all the means of fer- 
tilization, and producing the best fruit and grain, 
with a healthy climate, and delightful scenery, 
furnishes inducements for settlements almcst 
irresistible. 

In future times, the metamorphoses of Ovid 
%vill be re-produced in this romantic region. The 
Fountain of Arethusa will yield its renown to tlie 
exuberent Springs of Aurora ; and the license of 
poetic imagination will spread its fairy enchant- 
merts over the whole land. 



g2 WESTERN CANAt., 

LETTER V. 

My Dear Sik, 

In my voyage on the canal I met Vvitn severai 
loaded boats and scows, ascending as well as de- 
scending, and also rafts. The facility with which 
boats pass each other without interruption or delay, 
strikes one forcibly at the first view. This canal 
will make a great revolution in the internal trade 
of the country, and in the balance of political 
power. 

One horse can draw a5 much on a canal, as 
60 on a road. The expense of transportation will 
be consequently greatly reduced, i saw an ad- 
%'erti3ement of Mr* Henry B. Ely, of Uticfi, 
wherein he oHers to forward goods on the canal 
for 25 cents per Cwt. for 100 miles, including toll, 
which is about five cents a ton per uiile, at least 
nne quarter less than by land. But thig I ^-^.r/.ti-c" 
hend is too high; the maxiniurn cost ought not to 
exceed three cents a mile per ton. I saw at Utica 
a raft of 440 tons of lumber, wiiich had been 
rlcated on the canal for 20 miles, for about 5Q 
dollars. It was drav.n by four horses at the rate 
of two miles an hour. The conveyance of this 
limber by land would have cost at least 16G0 dol- 
lars. The price of wheat at Albany, is now about 



WESTERN CANAL. 2o 

ST cents a bushel, and the land transportation, at 
any considerable distance, costs at least 44 cents. 
A bushel of wheat can be conveyed on tlie canal, 
when linished, from Seneca river to Albany for 
six cents. 

Gypsum is fouijd all over the west; you cr,n 
new buy it at Utica for $1 50 to $2 a ton. Tlie 
<::reat courjtrv Ivina: on the Hudson can be sun- 
plied with this mineral for four or live dollars a 
ton. Salt will also be sold at Albanj' for 2^. 6(L 
or OS. a bushel. 

I enclose you a marine, or canal list, cut from 
an Utica paper. The activity of business which 
this conjmunication has already created is per- 
fectly surprisinf^. 

Ficm the rtica Palviot. 

CANAL NAVIGATION. 

May 22, 1820, arrived, boat Montezuma, with 
passengers, Engineer, Experiment, Western Tra- 
der, and a Cayuga boat, with Hour. 

Departed, ]\iOtitezuma, passengers, and a Gene- 
va boat with goods. 

23. Arrived, Traveller, and Experiment. 
Departed, boats Engineer, Newell, and Experi- 
ment. 

24. Departed, boats Western Trader, and Ex- 
periment. 

Arrived, Lady of the Lake, with stone, and 
John Van Ness Yates, with 2o0 barrC'S of tlourj 
tVom Seneca l^aUe. 



24 WESTEllN CANAL. 

25. Arrived, Experiment, passengers, Lady of 
the Lake, stone, Anne Maria, witli salt, from 
Salina. 

Departed, Experiment, Anne ]\Iaria. 

2G. Arrived, boat Montezuma, with passen- 
gers, his excellency the Governor, and Gen. Van 
Rensselaer. 

27. Arrived, boats Traveller, Clirilon, and the 
Western Trader. 

28. Arrived Engineer. 

Departed, the Experiment, passengers, for 
Montezuma. 

29. Departed, boat Montezuma, with passen- 
gers, commencing her regular trips. 

30. Lady of the Lake, one scow, with stone. 

31. Arrived, two Cayuga boats with flour. 
Departed, Engineer, passengers. 

June 1. Two boats from the Seneca Lake, do. 

2 The Canistota and John Van Ness Yates, do. 

Arrived, Montezuma, with passengers. 

3. Arrived, one boat from Cayuga Lake, with 
pork. 

Departed, one boat for Geneva, and the pas- 
sage boat Experiment. 

5. Departed, the Montezuma, for Seneca river, 
with passengers. 

At Montezuma, I was regaled with most excel- 
lent fish of the esox genus ; and at Syracuse and 
Rome, on my way up, I had fine salmon. I shall 
on a future occasion, speak of the fishes of the 
west: The fish markets of the cities on the 
Hudson will be greatly improved by the canal. 
Xcw ?r?ccles will be brought down in ice in a 



WESTETIN CANAL. 25 

pcrit'ct stcLtc of preservation, and the epicures of 
the south will be treated with new and untried 
dishes of the highest flavor. 

The west is the favorite region of the peach 
and the plum. x\nd these and other kinds of 
fruits of the very best quality will be conveyed on 
the canal 1 liave seen in various places, a plant 
of fine appearance, which I am told produces ex- 
cellent fi'Liit of the size and color of a small orange. 
It is, if I mistake not, the podophyllum peltatuni 
and is commonly called mandrake, or May apple. 
This country also contains different species of 
wild plums of fine quality. The opening of 
a market for grain will prevent its conversion 
into ardent spirits — the curse of morals, and the 
bane of domestic felicity. Whiskey now sells for 
eighteen cents a gallon. What a temptation to 
inebriety ! a man may now keep constantly drnnk, 
fort hree or four shillings a week. Nothing but a 
heavy excise can banisli the use of this deleterious 
poison. 

Cattle which are fattened for the market can be 
transported on the canal with less expense and 
with more celerity, (and without any diminution 
of flesh) than by driving. 

In one word, new uses and striking advantages 
will daily present themselves to observation from 
this great operation. It is alleged that the canal 



20 WESTERN CAXAL. 

\\\W make a good ice road in wlrUer, but I have 
no faith in this opinion. The use of it for sixh 
purpose will be but sliort. it will be in use for 
vessels about ten months in a year; and what is 
ii3t a little e::tr<:iordinary, it freezes later, and 
thaws sooner, tlian natural waters. The pliiloso- 
phy of this fact I will endeavor to devclope on 
some future occasion, but such you may rely on 
it is the case. When the Onondaga Lake, wiiici! 
lies below the canal, was closed up with ice last 
spring, the latter was open and navigable. By 
the coDtinual passage of boats In winter, the canal 
i-an be prevented from freezing; and when frozen, 
a vessel may open its way by placing stampers 
for breaking ice at its head, as 1 have seen in the 
Forth and Cjyde canal, where they are worked 
l>y tb.e steam engir.e that propels the barge. 



LETTER VL 

^!y Dear Sir, 

Bi:fore leasing London I bouglit ^' An account 
of the Great Western Canal of New-York, with 
aii illasirative map,*' wliich was reprinted at that 
giT;\t liters r\' mart, and when I arrived here, the 
p-^eat out'ines of the coiihtrv aiKi of the canal 



WESTERN CANAL. 27 

\\6Ye faailHar to my mind. Actual inspection has 
exceeded the most saijgu'me anticipation. Some- 
times I think that I am in the region of enchant- 
ment, and that the magical operations of eastern 
iiction are acted over again in this country. Two 
canals of ]24 miles, uniting to a certain extent 
the great fresh water seas of the interior, with the 
ocean; and all tins done without noise, and as it 
were without effort, in less than two years aufl a 
half, mi'iSt shut the mouth of scepticism, and excite 
universal astonishment. I'lic more I examine 
anto this subject, the more in^portant consequen-^ 
€cs do I observe. The men who are the prlmum 
mobile of this sclieme, appear to understand tli-j 
genuine sources of national wealtli, and the ortho- 
dox principles of political economy. Internal 
trade is the great substratum of riches. It excites 
all kinds of industry, sharpens the faculties, and 
multiplies the exertions of man ; and inland navi- 
:gation is the lever of Archimedesj which will set 
in motion this world of occupation and exertion. 

Both sides of the canal are in fence. This is 
necessary in order to protect tlie bank from cattle, 
and the farms from depredations. I was slicwn 
-at Whitesborough, a fence, the materials of which 
were conveyed from Canasaraga last fa!!, on the 
canal. Tvventy-tvv'o hundred cedar rails were 
transported with one liorre, t^vo men, and a b^'V ? 



28 WESTERN CAXAL. 

and it took in going and returning, three days, at 
§3 per day; in the aggregate, $9; while by land 
it would have employed 40 wagons two days, 
which at $2 per day, would have cost $160. 

I am of opinion that the salt of Salina can be 
sold at Albany, when the canal is finished, for 31 
cents a bushel. At Salina it can be purchased for 
25 cents a bushel, and the expense of conveyance 
v/ill not exceed six cents. The principal coit now 
is the barrel, but when conveyed in bulk, this will 
of course be done away. I saw a salt boat build- 
ing near Syracuse, which was intended to convey 
ICOO bushels in bulk. 

in like manner gypsum can be got at Utica for 
$2 a ton, and delivered at Albany for $11 or $2 
more. Tiiis source of fertilization will be diffused 
through this channel over the whole state. I have 
much to say on this subject, and I am now con- 
sidering whether it will be best to prepare it by 
calcination or grinding before transportation, or 
transport the raw material. Suppose that 100,000 
farmers should each save twenty dollars a year in 
gypsum, and ten dollars in salt, by means of the 
canal, here would be an annual saving of three 
millions of dollars, a sum more than sufficient in 
two years to make the whole canal. And this is 
a very moderate calculation. Salt is essential to 
the health of cattle, and the consumption of this 



t.YrSU3I, SALT, SiC. 29 

'.aitjcie for that purpose, for the table, and for pre- 
serving fish and meats, is immense. Gypsum 
rises every year in public estimation, and I am 
told that during the late war, the farmers of Sara- 
toga and Dutchess counties would go to the gyp- 
sum beds of Madison and Onondaga counties for 
a supply, a distance of 150 or 200 miles. To 
shut out the foreign supply of gypsum and salt, 
would be a great saving to the public in every 
sense of the word : and this will be most eifectu- 
u]]y accomplished. 

A horse can easily draw 25 tons on a canal. 
This would take at least 20 teams for land trans 
portation. The conveyance of commodities by 
water will supersede the use of an animal for 
draught, which is the most voracious and v.aste- 
ful of the graminivorous class of brutes. Two 
beneficial consequences will result, and in a most 
exteusive manner. 1st. The diminished demand 
of horses for domestic accommodation, will enable 
a greater exportation to foreign markets : and 2d. 
Their place will be supplied by neat catde, sheep, 
swine, and poultry, which v.'ill be increased in 
proportion to the augmented stores of grain and 
grass for their benefit. It has long been anxious- 
ly desired by good agriculturists to substitute the 
ox for the horse in farming, and though this has 
partially succeeded ia the eastern states, yet the 



oU MAPLE SUGAB, 

Ijorse is almost exclusively used fur the convey^ 
ance of commodities a distance. 

Every diminution of expense in transportation^ 
will add so much to the profits of the farmer and 
manufacturer. Hence manufacturers will be en- 
abled to sell their fabrics at a low price, and to 
this canal I look for the resurrection and firm es- 
tablishment of the manufacturing interest of the 
State. 

I saw for the first time the famous acer saccha- 
rinum, or sugar maple. It grows spontaneously 
like all other trees of the forest, and is a most 
beautiful and- stately tree. It is said that each 
tree will produce from three to five pounds o^ 
sugar. An acre will contain 30 trees, and a tree 
will be fit for use in 15 years, and will probably 
continue so for two centuries. An orchard of 
ten acres would produce annually two hogsheads 
and a half of sugar, which can be made as good 
in all respects as the produce of the cane or the 
sweet beet. I speak from ocular observation and 
from taste. Mon. Le Ray, a very respectable 
and sensible land holder in Jefferson countv, 
shewed me at Washington-Hall, in New-York, a 
sample of maple sugar, which I have never seen 
excelled, and which was raised on his estates in 
that county ; and I have been told by Mr. George 
Parish, a most accomplished and public spirited 



WESTERN CANAL. 31 

gentleman, from St. Lawrence county, that the. 
iiHiabitants of that region not only supply them- 
selves with maple sugar for domestic uses, but 
have a surplus for market. This was reiterated to 
me at Utica lately, by Judge Ogden of the same 
county, and by Judge Church of Alleghany, gen- 
tlemen of great worth. A plantation of maple 
trees of ten acres, besides being highly ornamen- 
tal and beneficial for pasture — besides the use of 
the decayed trees for fuel, and the acquisition of 
excellent syrup, vinegar, and molasses, and a suf- 
ficiency of sugar for family purposes, will yield a 
profit of $200 annually to the proprietor ; and 
these operations are carried on in the month of 
March, continue but a short time, and interfere 
with no other business. The forests of the north 
and west will supply the other parts of the state 
with the best of sugar and molasses through the 
great canals. 



LETTER Vn. 

Geneva, June^ 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

Just before you arrive at Syracuse, 61 miles 
from Utica, you meet with the two first locks on the 
canal. Here are three which let you down into 



oZ V/ATER CiMENT. 

the Sulina Plain. These locks are made of iime 
and sand stone. Both abound with marine exuvia? 
and organic remains. I never saw more substan- 
tial erections. The water cement made use of is 
derived from a mixture of sand and a meagre 
lime stone found all over this country, and is said 
to be superior to any hydraulic mortar ever used. 
1 had at Utica an account of this discovery from 
,x Dr. Bartow, one of the agents of the Canal 
Board, a gentleman, who possesses a great fund 
of information, which he was by no means parsi- 
monious in imparting. 1 spent three hours very 
pleasantly with the Doctor at the great Utica Ho- 
tel. He informs me that on a chemical analysis. 
it is proved that the component parts are not the 
same with the Septarium, Lias, or Aberthlaw lime 
of Great Britain — that he and Mr. White, one of 
the Canal engineers, had originated and matured 
the discovery, and that it had been successfully 
tried in cisterns as well as locks, and found to 
imite stones as firmly and solidly as if they had 
been originally joined by the hand of nature. 

The Doctor states the constituents to be as fol- 
io^ .S : to wit. 

35 parts carbonic acid, 
25 lime, 

15 silex, 

16 alumine. 



GEOLOGICAL, 33 

2 water, 

1 oxide of iron. 

After the process of calcination, it is to be 
ground, and then mixed with an equal weight of 
clean sand, which will be twice as bulky as thi^ 
lime, and it must be mixed with clean water, and 
as little as possible. 

I am told that a great limestone ridge runs 
through the whole of this country, east and west — 
that north of it a ledge of gypsum commences; 
also a range of salines — and that on the borders 
of the gypsum and salt regions, there is a tier of 
lime stone alternating with sand stouc, and full 
of organic remains ; adjacent to which the water 
lime is found — and that this valuable fossil is in 
great abundance over a line of country of at least 
100 miles extent. The most eastern salt spring 
as yet discovered is about 25 miles west ofUtica ; 
at the same distance gypsum commences. This 
afiinity between salt and gypsum exists all over 
the world. I llnd the geology of tliis country 
most extroiordinary ; it is sui generis. In using 
the technology of Werner, I beg you to under- 
stand that i am no disciple of his scliool. I adopt 
it to explain my ideas in conformity to received 
and general nomenclature. We arc yet m the* 
horn book of this science. The lapse of ages will 
accnniulate facts for the formation of systems. — 



34 GEOLOGICAL. 

Tlils. earth is undoubtedly a wreck of u ibtiijer 
world ; a new combination of old materials. Fire 
and water have been the principal agents in ac- 
complishing this work 3 and changes are constant- 
ly going on, sometimes with slow, at other times 
with rapid, and rJways with unceasing steps. 

To adopt tiie language of Werner, this country 
of the v/cst is entirely of secondary formation. — 
Here are no primitive or transition recks, unless 
a lew scattered ones, which have been either 
brought from a distance by water, or ejected hy 
volcanoes from the bowels of the earth — and 
wlilch may therefore be considered as exotic sub- 
stances. I have as3'etseenbut shlstic, calcareous, 
and siliceous rocks, besides gypsum : with the 
exception of a few of granite at Montezuma, one 
of wliich is very large. The existence of these 
primitive substances in this country', is a great 
curiosity. These rocks may have been conveyed 
here from the rocky mountains, from Labrador, 
or the country north of Lake Superior. But T 
have much to say on this subject, which I shall 
reserve until I see more of this country. In Europe 
all the three great formations run into each other, 
or are in a state of close approximation. In this 
region the secondary predominates over the whole 
western country. This then is thehaUiat of coal ; 
here it must be found of the best quality, and most 



COAL. o^> 

abundant quantity. Further west, in Ohio and 
Penasylvaniaj it has been discovered, and I am 
confident that it exists in the vicinity of this canal. 
The reasons which induce this opinion are vari- 
ous and conclusive, and 1 shall now enumerate 
some of them. 

Coal is composed of charcoal, or carbon, bitu- 
men, some portion of earth, and generally a srnali 
quantity of metalic matter. When it exists with- 
out bitumen, it is termed anthracite or glance coal. 
All the western coal contains bitumen, and gene- 
rally speaking, the coal found east of the moun- 
tains is without it. 

Coal is found in hilly situations, under strata of 
grit, which is a compound of sand and clay, or 
under schistus which is an indurated clay, splitting 
into layers and forming either slate, or a substance 
called shivers, according to its fracture. Coal 
frequently alternates with strata of grit, stone and 
schistus. Its roof is generally composed of shale ; 
and aldiougli in the island of Great Britain it is 
not intermingled with lime stone, which generally 
forms the outlines of coal fields, yet on the conti- 
nent they are often foiuid in company. 

Discarding the theories which have been stated 
respecting the origin of coal, whether of mineral 
or vegetable derivation, it is sufficient merely to 
state facts in order to sustain the cpinion wlfich I 
have advanced on thi? sid>ject. 



.^O COAL. 

Cciii jj ckiscd by geologists among the secon- 
dary rocks or substances, and is found in regions 
ot' secondary formation arranged in horizontal 
strata. Tbe whole western country is of ihi;^ 
character. 

Again. — Its accompamments, shale and sand 
stone are tho^ principal rocks, besides lime and 
gypsum. 

Black shale 7,'hkh burns in the fire, and which 
derives its coior from the bitumen with which it is 
impregnated, is to be seen in various places. 

BitumiiiOus springs and oil stones exist in this 
country. 

Hydrogen ga-, or burning springs, are also 
found in this region, issuing from strata of schist, 
and are of the same nature, in several respects, 
with the gas obtained from the distillation of coal. 
Sir Humphrey Davy ascribes the quantity of gas 
thus spontaneoasly extricated, to the consolidation 
of this coal, ctTected under a great pressure; and 
even when this substance ov/es its. origin in some 
measure to other causes, it Is in a degree always 
identified with coal. For the inflammable gas of 

marshes consists of hydrogen and charcoal. 

Whenever I see this gas in a state of ignition, or 
issuing from the earth in its usual state, I setdov/a 
i^s origin in some ir^casure to coal. 



COAP, 

Agaiij. — The prevalence of sulphur and salt i;; 
tlie shape of springs, and of gypsum in the form of 
quarries, demonstrate the existence of coal. They 
are invariably companions. Providence dispen- 
ses its bounties in a remarkable manner. These 
invaluable fossils, coal, salt and gypsum, are 
always found in the same region. The great 
ranges of hills in Canasaraga, Onondaga, Ontario, 
and Genessee, are ramiiications of the Alleghany 
mountains, the seat of coal in Pittsburgh. 

One of the richest salt mines in England, war, 
discovered by digging a canal. The western 
canal in its windings round hills, in the deep cut- 
tings which it produces, and the extensive explo- 
rings and examinations which it occasions, will 
undoubtedly bring to light great mines of coa), 
more valuable than the precious metals of Peru, 
and the precious stones of Golconda. The place.s 
to look for this important mineral, are deep ra~ 
vines, formed by floods ; the vallies at the foot of 
high hills, and vertical sections produced by the 
overflowings and abrasures of streams. 

Thin laminae of coal have been seen In vavions 

places — and the Indians say that they have found 

Jire-stone in the wood:?. The moment coal is 

discovered within fifty miles of the canal, what 

sources of wealth will immediately be developecL 

Denrive Great Britain of its coal, and you ruin 
C 2 



SS GENEVA. 

the kingdom- Give it to tlie proud republic of 
New-York, and she will soar on eagle wings above 
all competition. 

I write from recollection, for I travel without 
books — ni}' general statements are correct, altho* 
1 maverrin some details. 



LETTER VIII. 

Geneva, June, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

I LIKE the air and scenery of this place so much, 
that I cannot leave it without regret. The spacious 
hotel is replete with accommodations. The viHage 
hangs over the pellucid lake, which stretches like 
a mighty river towards the south, and the eye is 
lost in tracing its extent. The aquatic birds 
which fl-equent this lake are objects of considera- 
?jle interest to me, and the fjslies which inh,abit its 
w aters are. equally so. I have however to grope 
my way in the dark without any assistance. Na- 
tural science has no hold of the affections of this 
community. Its very terms are unknown to most 
members of the learned professions- Here and 
there some illustrious exception may be seen, but 
then an attack is immicdiately made by the wit- 
ling;Sj the poetasters and the sciolists of the country. 



BIRDS. yU 

who unite 16 run down merit which they cannot 
imitate. Dr. Mitchill's honours of tliis kind uro 
as numerous as the documents of his scientilit; 
merit, and Dr. Flosack has been assailed by the 
low buffoonery of literary punchinellos and shal • 
lovv-pated coxcombs. When in company with 
the savansof my native country, the fame of Rush, 
Mitchill, Hosack, Bigelow, Belknap, Barton, 
Wistar and Walsh, were familiar to me — but I 
never heard of the names ofVerplanck and Pau]d= 
ing, of Searson, of Duer, of MinshuU, or of Dr. 
Henry, until I landed on the American shores. 

The common names of European birds are 
applied without discrimination to American ones, 
and this has created endless confusion. It is vain 
that 1 look for our quail, ourpatridge, our wood- 
cock, our pigeon, our swallow, our robin, our 
goldfinch, &,c. Tiiere is nothing of the kind to 
be seen. 1 am pointed to birds of those names, 
but here the resemblance ceases. The English 
snipe Is the same in Europe and America, and 
probably many aquatic birds, but that snipe is 
the only one in which I have ascertained a com- 
plete sameness. 

W^hen on the cawal in the night I was serenaded 
by some unknown nocturnal bird. It had four 
distinct notes — its song was protracted and as 
melodious and sNveet as the nightingale ; but it 



40 BIRD.?. 

was not tlie same bird. The next morning ll'ie 
whole feathered tribe sung in delightful concert, 
and saluted the orient monarch of day with more 
charming music than ever I heard in European 
forests. And this was continued after we had 
entered a gloomy swamp. A remarkable bird 
"was visible in the wood, eclipsing all its kind by 
the splendour and beauty of its plumage. It was 
entirely of a deep red color, with the exception of 
black on its wings. It was tlie Tanagra Rubra, 
or Red Tanager, the most beautiful bird in Ame- 
rica. It appears inclined to solitude, and its two 
notes, chij) churr, constantly repeated do not cor- 
respond with its magnificent attire. I had previ- 
ously seen the Loxia Cardinalis with its crested 
head and scarlet phimage, but it is not to be com- 
pared with the Red Tanager. There is a bird 
called the Orilus Phceniclus, or Red winged black 
bird, which is the exact reverse of the Tanager in 
dressand appearance, and lalsosawabeautifulbird 
of small size withi black plumage, and white on its 
wings, called the Bob Lincoln. I am persuaded 
tiiat there are many birds, particularly small ones, 
which are non-dcscripts. I was told of a bird 
which is heard in the night time in the month of 
jMarcb-, and which has never been seen. It is cal- 
led the Stake Driver from the noise it makes, 
and is contiaufvlly flying from tree to tree. It i' 



BIRDS. 41 

Undoubtedly a nocturnal bird of tiie Picus tribe, 
1 was told by an old countryman of mine, who 
lives in a district called the Royal Grant, that he 
had heard the nightingale, but this I am persuaded 
was a mistake. It was, he said, a night bird very 
small, and never distinctly visible. Dr. Mitcliill 
told me lie observed notes which he took to be the 
nightingale's one night at Wood Creek, but this 
I believe was the same song which I heard on the 
canal. 

There are four species of swallows here, the 
same number as in Great Britain, and I believe 
they go by the same names, although specifically 
distinct. 

Hirundo Rustica House Swallow. 
Hirundo Pelasgia Chimney Swallow. 
Hirundo Purpurea Martin. 
Hirundo Riparia Bank Swallow. 
The Chimney Swallow is different frpm ibi 
congeners ; it has no furcated tail. It is a wild 
bird, and nestles in chimnies and hollow tree?, 
I hear it descend the chimney of the room in 
which I sleep every night , its operations are 
incessant, and its chattering never ending. I 
have reason to think that there are more species 
of swallows in this country, than those enumera- 
ted. The Caprimulgns Virginianus or IVkip 
Poor-will., is a very singular bird. It Is unknown 



SULPHUn Si-illXGS. 



to Europe ; its wide month shews i)iat it derives 
its food from insects, and its cry in the nighi. 
allhougii the call of love, tends to inspire melan- 
choly. 



LETTER IX. 

Sidj)Juir Sjjrings, near Geneva, Jime, 1820. 
jMydear Sir, 

I ARRIVED here a few days ago. On my 
approach, my oiThctory nerves were greeted by 
a sulphurous smell, like the fabulous exhalations 
of the Stygian Lake. The av:commodations are 
bad, the country delightful, the springs curious, 
though not uncommon. A spring rises from the 
earth and immediately forms a small stream. In 
its ascent it passes through sulphur, and receives a 
strong impregnation. The water being saturated 
with this substance, deposits a concrete sediment. 
Whether it can be turned to a useful account, I 
cannot decide. 1 have much to say on these 
phenomena. 

Besides the usual loss of water by soakage? 
leakage, and wastage, on the canal, a considerable 
quantity will be spent in evaporation. In some 
countries the evaporation exceeds the rain. 
In others it falls short, particularly in Great Bri- 



RATS. 43 

tain. The ibnrier I am inclhied to believe to be 
the case in this state, but of this I am not certain. 
The waters of these western streams have a self- 
puddling power. They are saturated with lime, 
gj^psum, and vegetable and mineral decomposi- 
tions, and their depositions will gradually fill up 
the leaks and fissures in the canal. You know 
that a canal has been cuttlirough the bog of Allan 
in Ireland at an immense expense, and which is 
perfecdy water "tight. The comparative facilit}^ 
of making the western canal in the worst places is 
obvious. The freshets of spring and autumn — 
the heavy rains and snows of winter — and the 
operations of fro^t, have exhausted, the last season, 
all their powers^against this communication, and 
it has stood the shock at a trifling expense. In 
some places there is quick sand, which ever shift- 
ing and sliding, requires strong protection against 
its ravages. 

1 presume you know that moles and rats are so 
injurious to canals in England, that rat catchers 
are employed to extirpnte them. I have seen 
already in some places the holes of these animals ; 
I do not know whether the brown, gray, or Nor- 
way rat, the mus decumanus of LinuEcus and nius 
?\lvestris of Pennant, or the black rat, mus rattus 
ofLinucCUS, have e vtended thuir migraiions as far 
as this part of the country. They both follow 



44 I* ATS. 

settleiTjent?, and are great travellers, and I prcsUiT:'^ 
that they have already established themselves i.\ 
this regioi). Both are supposed to have been 
brought to England originally from India or Per- 
sia. The Norway rat, notwithstanding its name, 
is quite unknown in Scandinavia. He made hi^s 
appearance in the Five Islands in 1768, arriving 
upon the wreck of a Norway ship, and according 
to Pennant was first seen in England about the 
year 1723. He has made a national conquest ol 
the black rat, and wherever lie has taken his resi- 
dence, has quite extirpated it. According to Pen- 
nant, the black rat was indigenous in Eng- 
land, while Shaw supposes that he was derived 
from Asia. Pennant says that both rats and 
mice were unknown to the new v.orld before it 
was discovered by the Europeans, and the first rats 
it ever knew were introduced there by a ship fronr 
Antwerp. Shaw says that the black rat was im- 
ported into South America in 1554, and is suppo- 
sed to be a native of North America. I have 
seen in the city of New-York both the Norway 
and the black rat, and wherever they go they will 
do mischief. Taking up their habitation in 
houses adjacent to the canals, they will perforate 
the banks for drink and food. 

The mus amphibius, or water rat which bur- 
rows in banks about ponds and ditches, is a still 



EATS. 



45 



Jnore dangerous enemy. It inhabits Europe, 
northern Asia, and North America, according to 
Linnaeus. I have seen it in remote parts ot" the 
I country*', and it is a deadly foe to canals and mill 
ponds. So far as I can judge from a hasty glimpse 
in the boat, I have also seen the mus busarius 
which was some time ago discovered in the inte- 
rior of Canada, and which from the magnitude of 
the claws of its fore feet, is formed for burrowing 
in the ground. It is thus described in the fifdi 
volume of the Transactions cF the Linnaen Socie- 
ty — '' Mus cinercns, cauda tercti brevi subnuda, 

geniis saccatis, unguibus palmaram maximis 
fossoriis." 

But a fresh water lobster, a fpecies of cray fish 
I which I have not yet seen, is said to be peculiarly 
dangerous to mill dams by its perforations : It 
I inhabits the Genesee river in great abundance, 
I and is seen in many other streams. If it establish- 
j es Itself in the canal, it will do great injury. 
; The most formidable foe still remains to be 
noticed. The mus zibethicus, muskrat or mus- 
quash : 1 have already seen his holes on the 
Ibanks of the canal. He is next to the beaver, the 
I greatest architect of the brute kind. He builds 
his house on bogs, in summer, of reeds, and aban- 
dons it in winter, when he lodges in holes. He 
also ma^rs a hole In the side of a pond, or brook, 



40 EISKES. 

leading immediately into the water, iVom whence 
it rises gradually to a dry place, where he lies in 
security. In winter, when the water is frozen, 
muskrats go under the ice and prey on the fish. 
They are very destructive to trout, which is alrea- 
dy in the canal. This animal is so useful to the 
furriers, that a law has been enacted against kil- 
ling it, between the first of May and the first of 
November, except in canals and mill ponds. I 
am sure that its ravages on the canals, unless res- 
trained by severe vigilance, will greatly exceed all 
its benefits in making hats. 



LETTER X. 

Canandaigua, June, 1820. 
My dear Sir, 

" Of all minerals, said Bacon, there is none 
like the fisheries." And I assure you that these pre- 
cious commodities abound in the xyestern waters. 

The ticamang, or white fish are taken in great 
numbers about the falls of St. Mary's at the foot 
of Lake Superior, particularly in the autumn, 
when that fish leaves the lakes and comes to the 
running and shallow waters to spawn. It weighs 
from four to sixteen pounds. So says Mackenzie 
the Scotch traveller ; and Mr. Rathbone, a very 



FISHES. 47 

iiUeliigent gentleman of New-York, has assured 
me, that at certain seasons the Indians collect in 
vast multitudes at these falls to catch fish. Be> 
sides the white fish, there are the salmon trout, 

. and several kinds of sturgeon and pike, and fresh 
water herring, and a number of other kinds. 
Whether these fishes were originally marine ani- 
mals, I cannot say. Fresh water fish will some- 
times live in salt water, and vice versa. The 

i lake of Lentini in Italy, is stocked with a sea fish 

! called the cefalo, a species of mullet caught in the 
j\lediterranean, and thrown into the fresh water of 

khe lake, where they not only live, but increase 
greatly in size, and in)prove in flavor, and are a 
considerable article of luxury in the island. The 
lake has no communication with the sea, and is 
chiefly filled with rain water. Many fish run up 
from the ocean into fresh waters to spawn, and 
perhaps some fresh water fish go to the ocean for 
the same purpose. The fishes of tlie lakes can 
however have the benefit of the salt water if they 
see fit, as those waters abound with salt sprhigs. 
Ives informs us that at certain places in the Red 
Sea, divers go down several fathoms, and bring 
up fresh water^ which is found in holes or little 
natural wells. In this case the fresh water fish 
may live in tlie ocean. I have no doubt but that 
fishes can tienerally accommodate themselves to 



48 F1SHE = , i 

i 

the fluid in which they swhn, whether salhie or I 
fresh. 

I find ail the country supplied with a hard dried I 
cod from New-England, which must drain it ofi 
considerable money. I am somewhat surprised a4 ; 
this, as it is so replete with fine fishes of its own. j 
West of Lake Erie, the waters contain the common j 
salmon, in great numbers. The last year the j 
fisheries in Sacket's Harbor and Chaumont's Bay j 
produced the following ; 

Siscoes or lake herring, 4,000 barrels, 
at $7 per barrel, §28,000 

White fish, 1200 barrels, at 9 dollars, 10,800 

Salmon trout, 400 do. at 14 do. 5,600 



$44,400 
The distance comprised is less than twenty 
miles, and the quantity is exclusive of the abun- 
dance distributed fresli in the country contiguous i 
to the fishing grounds. 

Judge Bates, one of the canal engineers, toldj 
me that 1000 barrels of eels are caught at tlic 
Oswego falls, and 500 of other fish, at $10 
per barrel, $15,000 

As much at other places on tha*t river, 15,000 



$30,000 



FISHES. 49 

It 13 not too much to sa}', that the western fish- 
eries, from the falls of St. Mary's to Lake Cham- 
plam, can be made to produce a million of dol- 
lars annual]}'. 

Along the canal 1 have been regaled with the 
salmon and pike in great perfection. The salmo 
fario, or common trout is visible in various nlaces 
in the canal. 

The science of ichthyology is pregnant with 
instruction and amusement. The migration of 
fishes, their occasional appearance and absence 
their habits, he. are subjects of interesting inqui- 
ry. The most remarkable circumstance in their 
natural history is their extreme loageviiy and rapid 
groivth. A salmon weighing 7| lbs. was taken 
on the 7th of February at Warrington, (Eng.) 
and marked with scissors on the back fin and tail, 
and turned into the river, and was again taken on 
the 17th of the following March, and Vias then 
found to weigh 17j lbs. Some of the salmon, (I 
mean the salmo salar ofLinnseus) slay in the 
^vestern lakes all the year. But these may perhaps 
be considered estrays. The history of this fish is 
involved in much obscurity, and so indeed is that 
of all erratic fish. Pennant says, that every spe- 
cies of salmon is found in the rivers of Kamtschat- 
ka. It is observed that each shoal keep apart 
from others of different species, and frequently 



50 PISHES. 

prefer a separate river, notwithstanding the mouths 
ma3^ be ahiiost contiguous. . Every species of 
salmon dies in the same river or lake in which it 
is born, and to which it returns to spawn. In 
the third year, male and female consort together, 
and the latter deposits its spawn in a hole formed 
with its tail and fins in the sand. A fish of a 
year's growth continues near tlie place, guards the 
spawn, and returns to the sea with the new born 
fry in November. The salmons of Kamtschatka 
spawn but once in their lives ; those of Siberia 
and Europe, the rivers of which are deep, and 
abound with insect food, are enabled to continue 
the first great command of nature, frequently du- 
ring tlie period of their existence. The common 
salmon of the western uaters spawn, it is said, 
twice a year ; also the brook trout. Linnseus 
enumerates between forty and fifty diflerent spe- 
cies of the salmo. I have reason to believe that 
there are several in this country. Besides the 
common salmon, the salmon trout, and the brook 
trout, there are, 1 think, dilTercnt species of trout 
in rivers and lakes, which are confounded under 
the general name of salmon trout and common 
trout. I have seen two kinds of the common 
trout which are considered as of the same species 
but which are specifically distinct. One species 
generally inhabit streams, although they go into 



FISHES. 51 

the shallow? oTIakes in the fall and coiiceai them« 
selves in the grass. They have red spots on the 
body, and square tails. The other kind have 
yellow spots and forked tails, and never leave the 
lakes. I am told that Oneida Lake is filled in 
July with a small substance called lake blossom, 
wliich is undoubtedly the exuviae or ova of in- 
sects. I have seen on the Lake Baikal, the great- 
est lake of the old world, vast quantities of the 
skins of the onischus trachurus, a species of insect; 
which abounds on the rocky shores of the lake, 
and is the food of the salmo lenok and sig. The 
salmo salar and its congeners is probably attracted 
into these lakes by the vast quantities of insects. 
I have heard a great deal of the Oswego basse, 
or black basse ; it is said to be the most delicious 
fish of the west. It is of the perca genus. 



LETTER XL 

Canandaigua, June, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

Lake Baikal, of which I wrote to you in a late 
letter, is a vast distance from the sea. It is 125 
leagues long, and about six in breadth. A species 
of seal inha its it, which was originally a sea 
animal, but which is now naturalized to fresh 



52 FISHES. -v^ 

water. Indeed 1 believe that the great western 
lakes of America, contain a large quantity of salt 
water in particular places, which may be sufficient 
for the support of marine animals. One of the 
old French writers in Canada says, that a seal 
was at one time seen near Montreal. The harbor 
of New-York abounded w ith this animal in an- 
cient times. Robin's reef was at one period their 
place of rendezvous, and derives its appellation 
from file Dutch word for it. 

The conveyance of fish from one region to 
another, is not a new idea. The carp was trans- 
ported to England from Spain. According to 
Bioche, the sterlet, or accipenser ruthenus was 
transported from the Volga into the lake Mselar^ 
hy Frederick I. as was theloche, cobitisbarbatula, 
out of Germany, by the same monarch. Several 
little lakes, called by the Americans, ponds, have 
been stocked with a fine species of esox, called 
pickerel. How easy would it be to bring the 
European carp into this country. The gold fish, 
a beautiful little carp from China, adorns the par- 
lours of many American ladies. The most remote 
and sequestered pieces of water without outlets or 
inlets abound with finny inhabitants. How did 
they come there ? is a natural question, upon 
which I have often pondered. 



FISHES. 53 

1. They may have been left after the retreat of 
the waters of the general deluge. 

2. The ova of fishes may have been drawn into 
the atmosphere with exhalations, and conveyed 
to a great distance. 

3. Dead fishes may have been accidentally 
dropt into those waters by birds of prey, and on 
the decomposition of their bodies, the contained 
ova may have produced fish. 

4. It is well known that whirlwinds catch up 
water, and carry away with it at the same time, 
fishes, to an amazing distance. Great shoals of 
herrings have been found on the highest mountains 
oftheFeroe Islands. 

5. Aquatic birds convey the ova of fishes taken 
in as food to different places. 

The vast fecundity of fishes is astonishing. 
Their powers of production transcend their pow- 
ers of destruction. A single ovary of the large 
cod has been known to contain nine millions of 
eggs. 

I expect great changes from the junction of the 
western and eastern waters on the subject offish. 
Already have several kinds penetrated through 
the canal at Rome into the Mohawk river. 

1 . The pickerel of the western lakes has made 
"his appearance there. 



54: FISHES. 

2. A new kind of sucker, called the black suck- 
er. 

3. The catfish of the lakes. 

4. A chub, or dace, of a silver colour, and 
tvhich sometimes weighs 4 lbs. Great destruction 
has been made of this fish by the improper use 
of coculus indicus in catching it. I accidentally 
met a German from Schoharie county, who was 
bound to the Oneida Lake for catfish to stock his 
pond. 

The canal will bring the western fishes into the 
eastern waters. At first, worms and insects will 
supply them with food ; their amazing fecundity 
will fill the streams with eggs and young — cannibal 
like they will subsist on each other, and in pro- 
portion to their multiplication will be the demand 
for, and the supply of subsistence ; but as the lat- 
ter will probably exceed the former, new and 
abundant fiisheries will be brought into operation 

The more, my dear sir, I see, and the more I 
think, of the canal, the more thoroughly am 1 
convinced of its astonishing blessings. Nature 
has poured down her benefits on this favored land 
— and the mighty genius of enterprise has brought 
them to perfection. 

O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint. 

But alas ! faction is at work to undermine the 
b-oon of heaven, and the gifts of Providence, 



i CANANDAIGUA. 00 

LETTER XIi: 

Canandaigua, June, 1820. 
My dear Sir, 

I HAVE met in this place with many gentlemen 
of high standing and distinguished talents. Per- 
haps no village in America can boast of a bright- 
er constellation. Here are Gideon Granger, IVi} - 
ron, Holly, a most indefatigable and eminent 
member of the canal board — Nathaniel Howel) ^ 
chief justice of the county — John Greig, an emi- 
grant from Scotland' — several clergymen, physi- 
cians, barristers, farmers, merchants, &;c. who are 
all distinguished as men of information and pub- 
lic spirit. The gentlemen whom I have mention- 
ed by name are men of uncommon endowments 
and high acquirements ; and you can never rise 
from their communion, without increasing your 
stock of useful information. Hospitality is the 
order of the day in this village. The ladies are 
elegant in their manners and appearance, and 
converse well and with great facility. 

I have been in other places of a different des- 
cription, where a cold and icy distance prevails, 
and where hospitality is arrayed in frowns. This 
difference of manners must arise from the influence 



5G CANANBAIGUA. 

of a few coi^nmanding minds ; and I assure you 
that it slieds a lustre not only on the intercourse 
of polished lite, but by a natural association of 
ideas, brightens the scenery and heightens the 
beauties of the country in the view of the travel- 
ler. 

This western region is peopled by emigrants 
from different parts of the United States and 
Europe. If in the evolutions of good fortune, it 
should so happen, that a number of meritorious 
persons should settle in a particular place, carry- 
ing with them the excellencies which distinguish 
their native country, then a most felicitous state of 
society must be formed. This is the case with 
the population of Canandaigua — and the virtues 
and good qualities which flourish in this delight- 
ful village, are communicated to the whole suf- 
rounding country. 

Although there are no privileged orders in this 
representative democracy, yet there are distinct 
classes in society, which derive their existence from 
a difference in education, cultivation, and refine- 
ment. In cities, towns, and villages, the leading 
members of the learned professions, the principal 
merchants and agriculturists form a distinct asso- 
ciation — and it is sometimes amusing to perceive 
the efforts of the novi homines to elevate themselves 
into this class, which is considered the first or 



AMERICAN CHARACTER. ^J i 

Jiighesto Among- these stern republicans, I have 
seen a great deal of family pride, and it is certain- 
ly a natural propensity in the common people to 
regard with respect the descendants of those illus- 
trious men who have been the benefactors and the 
ornaments oi the country. I have sometimes 
been amused with the adoption of an appellatioM 
which I at first misunderstood. When I hea.d 
some of the lowest orders of society styled men of 
family^ what, thought I, can this mean ? What a 
nomen generalissimum for all kinds of folks — but I 
was soon undeceived ; by a man of family is 
meant, in common parlance, not a man of dis- 
tinguished family, but a man having a family. In 
every state there are great families. In every 
city, town, village, and district, there are great 
families, and the invidious airs of self-importance 
which some of the imbecile members of the would- 
be-patricians take upon themselves, is often retali- 
ated and punished by the rising up of new claim- 
ants to superiority, who bear away the honors oi' 
a fastidious aristocracy. In the middle ranks in 
villages, the bar keeper is an important personage 
and so is the mistress of the school, who is gene- 
rally a well educated, well-behaved young womaii, 
They set the fashions for their associates, and give 
■hf^ tnrie to opinion. In some places the stage- 



68 



AMERICAN CHARACTER. 



driver is a leading bea'j, and the keeper of the 
turnpike gate is a man of consequence. 

In the American character, I have witnessed a 
singular presentation of lofty independence and 
iniaiTected civility. Travel where you will you 
will never be treated with inattention or rudeness. 
Men, women' and children, are conrlcous to the 
passing stranger. Ask as many and v»'hat ques- 
tions you please, and you will be answered to the 
ilill extent of their information — but then they will 
espect rccipr-oci*y. You will be assailed by a 
prying curiosity wiiich investigates your name, 
your business, and your destination. You will 
be treated with perfect equality ; and it will be 
expected from you to listen with patience to tedi- 
ous narr?t:ves and multifarious speculations. 

1 never saw the elements of common education 
more generally diffused, and better understood. 
Every one can read, and write, and cypher — can 
road his bible, his catechism, and his psalm book. 
In the nooks ol the most common log house, you 
v>'ill see such books as the Young Man's Best 
Companion, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Her- 
> cy's Meditations, Robinson Crusoe, and Tom 
.Tones. The aspirants after higher knowledge are 
Uw in number and not very ardent in the pursuit. 
But I can assure you that many places are hon- 
ored by the residence of truly scientific men. 1 



EDUCATION. 59 

was much pleased with several of the savans of 
New-York, and among others with my distin- 
guished countryman, Dr. M'Nevin, and a Quaker 
gentleman ofthenameof Griscom. In Albany 
there is Dr. Beck ; In Utica, Dr. Coventry, and 
in many other villages, men whose scientific ac- 
quirements are truly respectable. 

In one word, Jonathan is a sensible man, of 
good morals, respectable habits, and civil man- 
ners. His Wife is a good, tidy housekeeper, and 
makes a kind affectionate companion for life. 
His daughters are excellent young women, beau- 
tiful, fascinating, and well informed — but, like the 
scenery of their native land, a little romantic with- 
al. His sons are smart young men, capable of 
great things, and fully sensible of it — infected with 
national vanity — know a little of many things, but 
not an entirety of any thing. Now and then a 
promising genius appears among them who im- 
mediately becomes the hopes and the spoiled child 
of the family. Jonathan traces up his genealogy 
to John Bull, looks upon him with great respect, 
and sends his most promising children to John for 
a transatlantic education. These bo\ s come back 
some of them loaded with science, some with fop- 
pery, some with affectation, some complete dan- 
dies, and greater fools than when they left home. 
Now and then a Jefferson, a Miichill, a Hosack, 



60 TITLES. 

a Walsh, a Rush, and a Franklin, appear ; but 
alas, such men are few, when compared with the 
ephemeral fops that infest the literary world of 
America. But In defiance of prejudice I must 
however say, that Jonathan has as much native 
intellect, and as good morals as John Bull, and 
better manners, without any surly pretensions to 
superiority. 



LETTER XIII. 

Cancmdaigua, June, 1820. 
My dear Sir, 

It is not a little extraordinary to observe the 
strong propensity of this republican people for 
titles and for claims to high distinction of family. 
The foundation of their government is the equal- 
ity of human rights. " Ail men (says their cele- 
brated declaration of independence) are created 
equal," and yet we perceive a continual aspira- 
tion after the gewgaws and mummeries of aristo- 
cratical governments. The golden eagle which 
adorns the buttonholes of the heroes of the revolu- 
tion, is a favorite addition to their exalted merits. 
Titles abound to superfluity. Every governor is 
styled Excellency whether he preside over a state 
or territory. His Honor and the Honorable, are 



TITLES. <3l 

applied to deputy governors, Speakers of Senates 
and General Courts, Chancellors, the members of 
the higher Judicatories, jMembers of Congress and 
State Senators ; and now and then you observe 
the Worshipful members of Corporations and 
County Courts dropping their appropriate titles, 
and taking a seat among the Honorabhs of the 
land. Esquire is applied to the magistracy iu 
general, and to the members of the bar. Some- 
times His Excellency and The Honorable are in- 
vested with this magnificent appendage in order 
to lengthen out an Alexandrine line of mighty 
honors. Everj^ man who practices physic or sur- 
gery, or undertakes to tinker in any way the hu- 
man body, is called Doctor. Even the village 
apothecary and cwller of simples ; and then Gen- 
tleman is most liberally applied to the Dii minorum 
of this title-loving people, who seem to be anxious 
to keep constantly out of view the distich of old 
Chaucer, 

<• When Adam delv'd and Eve span, 
Then there was no gentleman." 

Mr. Granger informs me that at the first esta- 
blishment of the present national government a 
strenuous attempt was made to introduce high 
sounding titles. It was proposed to style the Pre- 
sident, His Serene Highness — the Vice President, 

His Highness — Senators, The Right Honorable^—' 
D 2 



62 TirLES. 

Representatives, The Honorable^ he. Sic. For 
the honor of the country, this ridiculous effort wa^ 
overruled by the good sense of the nation. Draw- 
ing rooms, levees, regulations of rank and pre- 
scriptions of etiquette, are however, permitted to 
disgrace the government ; and questions of high 
import, and of great pith and importance, with 
respect to precedence, are debated with wonder- 
ful zeal and astonishing ability. Shall the wife 
of the President return visits — shall the wife of a 
Secretary pay the first visit to the wife of a mem- 
ber of Congress — shall the Secretaries outrank the 
Senators — shall clerks and the wives of clerks 
visit the President's drawing room — are questions 
which have been discussed in solemn council, and 
which have employed every mngue and every 
raind in the sublime Bagdad of America. A lit- 
tle more than two hundred years have elapsed 
since the first settlement of this country ; and as 
a generation averages but thirty-three years, few 
families here can boast of more tiian five genera- 
tions ; and yet our ears are saluted in all quarters 
with paiiegyrics on great families, who have come 
perhaps 

" From Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where." 

I assure you that I feel infinitely disgusted at 
4iis ridiculous apery of nobility. I have seen 



TITLES. 63 

enough to know, that the true noble is the noble of 
nature, and that the really great man is the man who 
stands on his own legs, not on the crutches of his 
forefathers : who relies on his own intellectual 
and moral powers, without any wish to climb into 
consequence over the tomb-stones of a venerable 
ancestry. 

" Nam g-eniis et proavos et qucE non feciraus ipsi 
Vix ea nostra voco." 

Let me not be misunderstood, as undervaluing 
the advantages of a respectable family. What I 
censure is the absurd pretensions of little men to 
resolve themselves into great men by a species of 
genealogical alcbymy. It is not a little amusing 
to see the efforts of a novus homo, (as styled by the 
old Romans) to attain the 'vantage ground of hon- 
our, formerly occupied by the ancestors of these 
pretenders — and the ridiculous counter exertions 
of this factitious nobility in endeavoring to bar- 
ricade the advances of their antagonists by a line 
of genealogical trees. I accidentally lit on a rare 
book in five octavos, in petto, styled Alden's 
Epitaphs, Uc. where I found the lineal and col- 
lateral consanguinities and affinities of some 
families arranged with so much precision, and 
their remote ramifications laid down with such 
perspicuous delineations, that I was almost tempt- 
ed to believe that I had stumbled on the British 



64 TITLES. 

Peeragi. Ages, marriages, children, names, site^r, 
professions, offices, follow each other in the true 
nobility style. 

<' Stuck o'er with titles and hung round with string?, 

That thou may'st be by kings or w s of kings : 

Boast the pure blood of an illustrious race, 
In quiet flow from Lucrece to Lucrece : 
But by your father's worth if your's you rate. 
Count me those only who are good and great- 
Go ! if your ancient but ignoble blood, 
Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood. 
Go ! and pretend your family is young, 
?sor own your fathers have been fools so long. 
What can eanoble sots, or slaves, or cowards ? 
Alas ! not all the blood of all the Howards." 

When I was on the canal^ I frequently associa- 
ted my views with moral considerations, and stray- 
into allegorical representations in the John Bun- 
yan style. When I saw some boats ascending the 
locks — others descending, and many keeping on 
in the even tenor of their way, I witnessed a true 
picture of human sooiety — which constantly exhi- 
bits the rise and fall of individuals, and a vast as- 
semblage of contemporaneous, concurrent and 
counteracting exertions to attain felicity and glo- 
ry. With most men it is much easier to pull 
down those above them, than to ascend to the 
same level. The political ostracisms of the Gre- 
cian democracies, and the banishment of illustri- 
ous men in the Roman republic, are a severe 



CANANDAIGLA. 65 

satire on human nature. I have ouen traced a 
resemblance between the ancient Athenians and 
the modern French — lively and full of mind, 
adoruing the world by the works of art and the 
productions of genius — but yet cherishing a per- 
soiial vanity, which constantly puts them in a 
belligerent state with men of superior merit, and 
a national vanity which creates the same collision 
with all other nations. At one time the Grand 
Monarque, and at other times, the grand Nation — 
the Grand Emperor — the Grand Consul — and 
always, the glory and the greatness of the world. 



LETTER XIV. 

Canandaigua, June^ 1820. 

My Dear Sir, 

In every country or village inn, the bar room 
is the coffee room, exchange, or place of intelli- 
gence, where all the quidnuncs, newsmongers, 
and politicians of the district resort, and where 
strangers and travellers make their first entry* 
Neither my taste, my habits, nor my convenience 
will admit of gorgeous or shewy equipments, and 
when I therefore take my seat in the caravanse- 
.as, there is nothing in my appearance to attract 



€6 CAXANDAIGUA. 

particular attention. j\Iany a persGn with whom 
I have held coii\ersatio!is, has undoubtedly for- 
gotten the subject, as well as the company. In 
the desultory and rapid mani^er in which such 
conferences are generally managed, a stranger is 
liable to mistake names and titles of office. I 
jiave no doubt but this has been my case frequent- 
]y : I may have styled a major a colonel, and a 
sheriff a judge, and if so, I assure you without 
ilie most distant idea of giving offence. 

'• Cjisd be the verse however sweet it flow, 
\Vhich tends to make one Wortliy man my foe ; 
Give virtue scandal, iunocence a tear, 
I Or from tlie meek ey'cl virgin draw a tear." 

Volney told me in Paris, that he travelled all 
over the west on foot. My countrymen Dr. 
IVf'Nevin and Dr. Goldsmith, perambulated a. 
great portion of Europe ; and Wilson, the father 
of American Ornithology, was almost always a 
pedestrian traveller. How cautious ought peo- 
ple to be when in company with strangers. I 
have heard folly from the mouths of lawgivers, 
and ribaldry in the conversations of the notables 
of the land. Unnoticed, unobserved, reclining on 
my chair in the bar room, I have seen human na- 
ture without disguise — the artificial great man 
exhibiting his importance — the humble under^ 
strapper listening like a blacksmith to a tailor's 



PAKTIES. t>7 

iiews— the oracle of thr place rnountcu on iiis 
tripod, and pronouncing his opinions with sclcnnii 
gravity. O ! If I liad been recognized as a {m- 
veller from the eastern world — a keen observer 
of human nature — and a recorder oiWhat I saw, 
1 humbly hope that much nonsense w ould have 
been spared, and many improper exfiibitions pre- 
vented ; but then I would have seen man at a 
masquerade. 1 now deiive light from my ob- 
scurity, and observe this world as it is. ]\fy plain 
dress, my moderate expenditures. \r,y unobtrusive 
behaviour, avert particular remark. It is only in 
the society of such men as I meet with in this 
place, that I am considered as of the least impor- 
tance. The prevalent conversations all over this 
federal republic, are on the subjects of political 
excitement. After some sage remarks on the 
weather, which compose the exordium of all con- 
versations, the man of America, like the man of 
Athens, asks, JVhai news ? It is needless to say, 
that I have steered entirely clear of political and 
theological strife. I hardly understand the no- 
menclature of parties. They are all republicans, 
and yet a portion of the people assume the title of 
republican, as an exclusive right, or patent mono- 
poly. They are all federalists, that is, in favor 
of a general government — and yet a part arrogate 
to themselves this appellation to the disparage* 



68 PARTIES- 

snentofthe others. It is easy to see tliat the dif- 
ference is nominal — that the whole controversy 
is about oitice, and that the country is constantly 
assailed by ambitious demagogues for the purpose 
of gratifying their cupidity. It is a melancholy. 
but true rejection on human nature, that the 
smaller the dilierence the greater the animosity. 
Mole hills and rivulets, become mountains and 
rivers. The Greek empire was ruined by two most 
inveterate factions, the Prasini and Vineti, which 
originated from the colour of livery in equestrian 
races. The parties of Guelphs and Gibbelines, 
of Roundheads and Cavaliers, of Whigs and To- 
ries, continued after all causes of difference were 
merged, I have often asked some of the leading 
politicians of this country, what constituted the 
real points of discrimination between the Repub- 
licans and Federalists, and I never could get a 
satisfactory answer. An artful man v, ill lay hold 
of ivords if he cannot of things, in order to pro- 
mote his views. The Jansenists and the Jesuits, 
the Nominalists and the Realists, the Sub-lapsa~ 
rians, and the Supra-lapsarians, were in polemic* 
what the party controversies of this people are in 
politics. If you place an ass at an equal distance 
between two bundles of hay, will he not remain 
there to all eternity ? was a question solemnly 
propounded and gravely debated by the school- 



PARTIES. 69 

men. Tile motive to eat both, some contended, 
being equal, it was impossible for the animal to 
come to a conclusion. He would therefore re- 
main in a state of inaction, for ever and for ever. 
This problem, so puzzling to scholastic philoso- 
phy, would at once be decided b}^ the ass, and 
the experimentum cnicis would effectually silence 
every doubt. It is impossible for a man, how- 
ever quietly disposed, to act the supposititious part 
of the scholastic ass, and remain neutral between 
the parties, or bundles of hay. He must in truth 
participate in one or in both, and as it respects any 
radical difference of principle, it is very immate- 
rial which he selects. There are some pendulum 
l-oliticians who arecoi:-th;j'aar:yescl]lating bet'veen 
parties, and these men in endeavoring to expiate 
their former cppugnation by fiery zeal, are mere 
fire-brands in society. In order to cover their 
turpitude, they assume high-sounding names, and 
are in verity political partizans, laying claim to 
be high-minded, and like Jupiter on Olympus, 
elevated above the atmosphere of common beings. 
And what adds infinitely to the force of these pre- 
tensions, is to find the most of these gentry to be 
the heroes of petty strife, and the leaders of village 
vexation, the fag ends of the learned professions, 
and the outcasts of reputable associations. I of- 
ten thiiik of the observations of the honest old 



70 KOCTUENAL SCENES. 

traveller, Toiirnefurt, when I see die inordinate 
violence of these liigh-mitided gentlemen. " The 
Turk, (says he) take 'em one with another, are 
much honester men than renegadoes ; and perhaps 
it is out of contempt that they do not circumcise 
renegadoes : for they have a common saying, 
that a bad Christian will never make a good 
Turk." 



LETTER XV. 

Canandaigua, June, 1820. 
My dear Sir, 

ErVERY country strikes a traveller by the appear- 
ance of some strange phenomena or uncommon 
exhibitions — and the novelty of the spectacle im- 
presses him sometimes so deeply, that he is apt to 
over-rate its importance. In travelling on the 
canal, I heard for the first time, the sounds and 
cries of strange animals, and perceived sights 
which 1 had never witnessed before. 

The country appeared in the night time full of 
sparks of fire in continual motion. It was easy 
to understand that these v,'ere the phosphoric emis- 
sions of insects on the wing. I accordingly caught 
some of the strangers and found them to be a spe- 
cies of lampyris ; I believe the lampyris corrusca 



NOCTURNAL SCENES. 71 

ofLlnnrjiis. This insect does not existin Europe 
but is to be found in Japan. The iampyris noc- 
tiluca, or glow worm, is quite a different animal^ 
and is the same in this country as in Europe : 
The female is apterous, while the male is of the 
coleoptera order, having four wings, and the up- 
per wings crustaceous. The female emits the 
light, and the male is guided by it to its paramour^ 
This anomaly is striking. As the female has no 
wrings and is confined to the earth, nature has fur- 
nished her with a lamp to direct her winged part- 
ner to the nuptial couch.* 

Next to the fire fly, the most striking nocturnal 
object is the r ana jjijn ens or bull-frog. The roar 
of this animal is unknown to a stranger. He is 
unknown in Europe — and a repetition of the 
coarse and lugubrious cry of these animals, res- 



* The following lines from SovUlipy's Madoc contain an excel 
lent description of the American i'tre fly : 

Sorrowing we beheld 

The night come on ; but soon did nigiit display 
More wonders than it veil'd : innumerous tribes 
From the wood-cave swarm'd, and darkness made 
Their beauties visiblo : one while they stream'd 
A bright blue radiance upon flowers that close<l 
Their gorgeous colors from the eye of day ;■ 
jXow molio7,Itss and dark, eluded )>earchf 
Self-shrouded : and anon. sUirring (he sin/. 
Rose like n s/ioiver offlr^, ' 



ii^ NOCTURNAL SCENERY, 

ponding as it were to each other, like the alter- 
nate crowing of village cocks, is calculated W 
make a strong impression. Whether this is the 
call of love, the shout of superiority, or the cry of 
battle, I do not know ; but if tliis be a fighting' 
animal, I should think that these tremendous sounds 
must be the heralds of approaching battles. In 
countries surrounded by steep hills, the bull is 
made extremely ferocious by the echo of his own 
bellowing : In this case the bull-frog must be 
sufficiently excited by the noise of hundreds of 
antagonists in every considerable collection of 
water. In addition to this I sometimes heard the 
poise of the rana arborea, or tree-frog ; and a 
sound like the noise made by the cat-gut of a 
fiddle when tried by a musician. This proceeded 
from a frog which 1 saw frequently on the canal 
and which in my opinion is a non-descript, as I 
do not believe it to be the rana boans, or croaking 
frog of Europe. 

The interest of this nocturnal scenery v/as great- 
ly heightened by the melancholy cries oi the ca- 
primulgus virginianus. Its name, ivhip-poor-ivtll] 
is derived from its noise, which is undoubtedly the 
signal of assignation. It differs specifically from 
the European goat sucker. The Indians consider 
it a bird of evil omen, and thatif light on a house, 
the death of some of the inhabitants is inevitable 



INSECTS, To 

I also heard from marshy or watery places a 
mixed sound or concert, which was incessant and 
unvarying — neither pleasant nor disagreeable, 
but increasing, upon the whole, the solemnity of 
an American night by the variety of its music. 
This I was told was the work of frogs or toads — 
but of this I must confess that I entertain doubts. 
May it not have proceeded from animals of the 
lacerta kind ? 

On the canal I saw in the day time continual- 
ly on the wing, and in pursuit of prey, a species 
of libellula, or dragon fly, which is vulgarly cal- 
led the devil's darning needle. The female drops 
her eggs into tha water, which are hatched into 
larvae, or caterpillars — and they continue in that 
and the pupa state two years before they emerge 
complete insects. This ravenous insect is in turn 
preyed upon by hirundines. The martin or hj- 
rundo purpurea, feeds its young with it, and the 
ground below its cage is covered with its mutila- 
ted wings and members, scattered about like the 
broken remains of dead bodies in the den of 
Cyclops. The curious insect which prepares a 
place of deposit for its ova by rolling dung into 
balls, is sometimes to be found in this country, 
and its unremitting industry in its dirty operations, 
reminds one of the incessant abuse of the scurrilous 
blockheads which infest the republic of letter?. 



WOOD. 



LETTER XVI. 

Canandaigua, June, 1920. 
My Dear Sir, 

All wood ilmt is susceptible of a fine polish, 
will make good furnitiire, and where the texture 
is compact, and the grain fine and concentrated, 
a polish can be made, an almost invariable ac- 
companiment. I have been not a little surprised 
at the extra agance of the Americans in import- 
ing mahogany, satin wood, he. for cabinet work, 
when they have as good, if not better materials at 
home. I find cabinet makers in full employ all 
over this country, and it is an occupation which 
deserves encouragement. It adds greatly to our 
comfort to sit down at a table which reflects like a 
mirror — and I always judge of the house-wifery 
of the lady of the mansion, by the appearance of 
the sideboard and tables. A man of observation 
will form a judgment in this respect by a single 
glance, apparently without taking any notice, and 
certainly without a scrutinizing stare : All young 
ladies that are candidates for matrimony ought 
?o understand that they cannot place too much 



WOOD. iO 

Stress upon ob^^erv.nces of this nature. No man 
who has any regard for his own comfort, will 
marry a wo nan who does not pay attention to 
cleanliness and neatness, which indeed were so high- 
ly prized by the Stagyrite, that he arranges them 
in the class of semi-virtues. 



E'en from the body's purity, 



The snind receives a secret symi-athctic aid." 

But to return to my subject. I went yesterday 
10 a cabinet maker's shop, and I was surprised at 
the variety and elegance of the furniture, chairs, 
and side boards, tables, book cases, and bureaus, 
of walnut, maple, and wild cherry, which would 
with a competent polish excel the furniture made 
of imported wood. 

In the first place, a species of the acer, or maple, 
which grows all over the country, is the material 
from which some of the best cabinet ware is made. 
This wood in growing, frequendy receives a cu- 
rious kind of contortion, from which it derives its 
denomination of curled maple, and it sometimes is 
shaped into a formation singularly elegant, called 
birdseye, from its appearance. Independendy o^ 
its uses in this respect, this maple transplanted 
into the court yard, and along the fences, in rows 
or in clumps, makes a beautiful ornamental tree. 

The juglans nigra or black walnut grows to 
an immense ^ize and makes fine cabinet work. 



'70 TREES. 

The nut is a fine addition to the table. The prunus 
virginiana, or wild cherry, is equally good, if not 
.superior ; and nothing but attention to polish is 
wanting to render furniture of this kind equal to 
any imported. The berries of this tree put in 
spirits make a salubrious drink. I have no doubt, 
but that other wood of excellent adaptation to the 
purposes of furniture, will be discovered. Maho- 
gony was not introduced into use until 150 years 
after the first settlement of Jamaica. 

Pownall, in his topographical description of 
North America, states it as the opinion of his friend 
Mr. Pratt, that the juice which can be drawn by 
incision from the poison vine is that material which 
the Chinese and Japanese make their verjuice with. 
This is the rhus miscrocorpar of Pursh, and is pro- 
bably confounded with the rhus vernix which is 
adjudged to be the true varnish tree described by 
Ksempfer in tiie Am^enitates exoticse by the name 
of sitz-dsin, and which grows all over this coun- 
try as well as in Japan. 

In a word, my dear sir, the people of America 
are furnislied, by the bounty of heaven, with every 
accommodation and comfort, and with a copious 
supply of the utile dulci. Their artisans are inge- 
nious and industrious — their materials for fabrics 
abundant in quantity and good in quality. Why 
then should they resort to the workshops of 



MANNERS. 77 

Europe ? Why should they seek for the materi- 
als of manufictures in foreign countries ? It is as 
absurd as for a man to look for happiness in to. 
verns, bagnios, and gambling houses, when he has 
a lovely wife, promising children, and every com- 
fort at home. 

1 have received but one letter from you since 
my arrival in this place. Hence I infer, thougli 
perhaps unjuuly, that my communications are 
uninteresting to you. Shall I be more sparing of 
^hem in future ^ I submit to your reprimand, 
because I deserve it, about my noticing the litera- 
ry ^ack puddings and Charlatans of the ds^y. 
They are really hors de combat in every respec*^, 

" Sons of a day, just buoyant on the flood, 
Then tiumfcered Avith the puppies in the mud." 



LETTER XVII. 

Canandaigua, June, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

In borrowing a sentence from a living author 
of some note, I think that its application to this 
country is peculiarly felicitous. " In the remotest 
village there is a nucleus round which the capa- 
bilities of the place may chrystalize and brighten.'' 
In every place there is a brilliant star, if not a 



78 MANNERS. 

constellation, of enlightened men — men who de- 
vote themselves to the " silent progress of study, 
and the placid conquests of investigation." It is 
pleasing to observe the respect with which these 
men are treated by their fellow-citizens. IMoral 
and intellectual strength and beauty are in this 
country the companions of political importance and 
influence. This I admit is not invariably the case. 
Some persons of uncomm.on worth and extraor- 
dinary endowments are now suffering a political 
ostracism ; and there are now many men high in 
office who answer die description ofCicero — " Ad 
Jionores adipiscendos etadrempublicam gerendam 
imdi veniunt, nulla cognitione rerum nulla scien- 
lia ornati." In Europe the partition wall between 
the different classes is maintained and fortified by 
the habitudes of society. The great man there 
always travels in his own coach or barge, and if 
be voyages on the sea, he takes the whole cabin 
to himself. Here the head men, or primates of 
the country, travel with their families in stage 
coaches, in steamboats, and in canal barges, and 
ihink it no degradation to sit down at the public 
tabl^, and to converse kindly and familiarly with 
all. The consequence of this felicitous commu- 
nion is a growing and expanded improvement in 
the decorums of life, and in the progression of 
mind. Prejudices are removed — aniniosities are 



MANN £11 r;. iif 

sofiened— and tlie links uliicii coiiiiect the cliain 
of luiman society are strengtliened and brightened 

jMuch oftlie happy state of this great communi- 
ty may be justly imputed to the influence of the 
female character. A late traveller says that the 
United States are governed by an oligarchy of 
Gazette editors. In no country are the former 
held in higher respect, and I intend no offence 
wlien I contradict this assertion and say that a 
gynecocracy prevails : Go into the most common 
farm house, and converse wiih the sons and daugh- 
ters of the family, and you will find something 
that pleases in the manner of the latter, while the 
former frequently require the ascendancy of an 
Iphigenia to polish the bluntness of their de- 
meanor. 

I frequently spend whole days in traversing on 
foot this beautiful country, chequered with enclo- 
sures — crowned with trees— filled with houses — 
teeming with vegetation, and smiling with plenty ; 
and when I reach the high hills of Bloomfield, I 
appear to breathe a balmier air, to behold a sere- 
ner sky, and enjoy a brighter sun. But in my 
peregrinations I never lose sight of man — I look 
at him in all his varieties and asp/ects — in his insu- 
lations and in his associations. The women of 
this country, after performing the labors of th 
day. amuse themselves in the afternoon by giving 



80 RIDING. 

oi' receiving visits, and you invariably see them 
as you pass their houses at that time, clothed in 
neat and decent attire. Groups of children are 
to be seen at the doors, rising in regular gradation, 
like the steps of a pyramid, enjoying the smiles of 
parental affection, and eyeing the passing travel- 
ler. When I view these scenes of domestic bliss, I 
feel something come over my heart which draws 
tears from my eyes. These excellent women 
have never visited the Castle of Indolence — they 
know not the place where 

'• Languid beauty keeps her pale fac'd court.'' 

And they dread those associations, 

" Where far is cast the distaff, spinning wheel, and loom, 

Where the sole labor is to kill the time ; 

And labor dire it is, and weary wo, 

Or saunter forth with tottering steps and slow." 

When I render the just tribute of applause to 
the general character of this interesting people, I 
cannot conceal my disapprobation of some noxious 
liabits which generally prevail. In my whole 
tour I do not think I have seen more than three 
travellers on horseback, and those wore umbrellas 
over their heads : It seems that a scraggy, ricket- 
ty, one-horse waggon, has been substituted — that 
it was introduced by a General a few years ago, 
who was too fat to be an equestrian. Of all exer- 
cise?, riding on horseback is the most healthy and 



OKNITHOLOGY, SI 

manly. A favourite aotbor sixys, *' I consider 
the absolute resignation of one's person to the 
luxury cf a carriage, lo forebode a \ery siiort in- 
terval between that and (lie vehicle v, liich is lo 
convey us to the last stage." The Americans are 
not an c^eminate people, and it is to me passing 
strange that they should give in to such degenerate 
habits. 

When a stranger alights at a tavern, he fre- 
quently witnesses a rapid collection of idlers in 
the bar room, who congregate together like birds 
of passage in autumn, to gather news, to kill time, 
and to dilnk whiskey. 1 have not been able to 
restrain my indignation at such an inexcusable 
waste of tlnie. Whenever 1 see it I augur ill of 
the morals of the place, and when 1 do not observe 
it, 1 mentally exclaim : — " This village is devoted 
to industry and temperance*' — and I frequently 
am induced to spend some time in it, v^hen I 
almost invariably find that my judgment is correct. 



LETTER XVill. 

Canandaigua^ June, 1S20. 
My Dear Sir, 

At the house of the respectable and worthy Mr* 
Greig of this town. I met for the first time with 



S2 ORNITHOLOGY. 

the ornithology of Alexander Wilson, in nine 
quarto volumes, and need I say that I am delighted 
with it beyond measure? He preserves a due me- 
dium between the dry technology of the Swedish, 
and the poetical delineations of the French school. 
Mark Catesby published two volumes in folio on 
the natural history of America, and George Ed- 
wards I think,^ seven in quarto. Wilson has far 
exceeded both, in the correctnets of his delinea- 
tions, in the beauty of his colouring, and in the 
number of his descriptions. He has figured and 
described 278 species — 56 of which were non- 
descripts. 

The biography of this man would ''point a 
moral and adorn a tale :" lie had passed through 
all the vicissitudes of humble life — a weaver and 
a pedlar, and finally a village schoolmaster. Li 
all situations respectable, and poising himself by 
tlie power of great talents, he stood upright while 
The wheel of fortune revolved under him. 

What posthumous honors have been paid to this 
great man — what monument has been erected to 
perpetuate his name? None — none; and if he 
were now alive, he might say with the old Roman, 
'' Malim utde me quaerant homines, quam ob rem 
Catoni non sit posita statua. quam quare sit po~ 
sita. 



OnNITilOLOCY. 



83 



Catesby and Edwards made the etchings of 
tiseir figured subjects — Wilson perlonued the 
;!ra»\ii)gs aiid the colourings of his — in all respccta 
be is superior. 

I am happy to agree with this great naturalist 
about the brumal retreat of the swallow. He 
scouts tlie idea of tiieir retiring into the bottom of 
rivers and lakes so generally credited by the dis- 
ciples of Linn^us. In addition to the swallows I 
mentioned to you before, he has described a green, 
blue, or white-bellied swallow, under tlie name of 
liirundo viridis. He calls the barn swallow hi- 
rundo Americana, and seems to think that the 
American bank swallow, or sand martin, (hirundo 
riparia) is the same as the European. Myriads 
of swallows, says a late traveller, are the occa- 
sional inhabitants of Honduras. This is a key to 
the whole mystery of tiieir winter quarters. 

The second volume of the Harleian rtliscellany 
contains an essay written seriatim, to prove that 
the moon is the hybernaculum of birds of pas- 
sage. 

The following text from Jeremiah is the ground 
work of this strange hypothesis. " The stork in 
the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the 
turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the 
time of their coming." He says that '' divers of 
U)ese fowls -A'hich make such chanjxes, and observe 



S4 ORMTHOLOGY. 

tljcir sea?oiis. do pass aiid repass between ihii* 
and the moon, w liich is the nearest eoncrete or 
earthly body of the planets. 

That no man has seen the birds out of their 
seasons, and therefore he concludes they are no 
V. here on tliis earth, (br de non entibus ei non ap- 
parentibus eadem est ratio. 

That wood-eocks, upon a change of wind to 
the east, about All-IIallows tide, will seem to 
come all in a night, for tlsongh in the former 
ijone are to be found, yet the next morning they 
will be found in every bush — that then its fiesh is 
short and tender, whereas, after it eats, it isstrincry 
and cfa fibrous fiesh, as other of our fowk are. 

The storks in llolhind all rollcct in Ilarlem, 
near wliere they continue some days, and then as- 
cend ill a spiral flight out of sight. 

That the word in heaven has reference to the 
place of flight. 

He reckons a bird going at the rate of 125 
miles an hour, can get to the moon in t\yo months 
—that aficr getting up a certain distance, they 
jaay be in a kind of sleep v^hich may supersede 
the use of food. 

But if the moon is too far, he concludes that 
there may be some concrete bodies at a much less 
distance, or ethereal islands invisible to us, and 
vet no further off than these birds mnv conveiiicut- 



OREITHOLOGY. 85 

ly arrive to. *' This 1 do suggest, (says this 
great philosopher) because it is as hard for me to 
persuade myself that they come from any other 
part of the earth, as it is to persuade another that 
they come from the moon, and therefore if the 
moon will not be allowed, some other place mus^ 
be found out for them." 

This lunar doctrine is an excellent satire, altlio^ 
not intended, on the hypothesis of submersion— 
both are equally unfounded and equally ridicu- 
lous. The swallow is the swiftest bird that flies 
— a mile a minute is a reasonable calculation.— 
In two days your swallows can reach AfricA, but- 
I do not believe that they extend their tour be- 
yond Spanish America, and the opposite islands. 

Have you ever seen the beautiful ode of Ana- 
creon on the swallow ? Will you accept of it in 
translation ? 

'* Once in each revohing year, 
Gentle bird we find thee here. 
When nature wears her summer \i;?.t. 
Thou com'st to weave thy simple nest ; 
But when the chilling winter lowers, 
Again thou seek'st the genial bowers 
Of Memphis, or the shores of JNile, 
AVhere constant hours of verdure smile." 

Edwards has given a delineation of the Canada 
jgoose at large. Catesby has figured the head 

E 2 



bO DOGS. 



nearly to the size of life. Compare iheni w\ 
Wilson'?, and what a difference In his favor. 



LETTER XIX. 

Canandaigua, June^ 1820. 

My Dear Sir, 

A DOG was pointed out to me, as an Indian dcg 
which had a peculiar conformation. It had a 
wild aspect — a long, flat head, slender muzzle, 
erect ears, coarse hair, and a long, meagre body ; 
and if I might venture to give an opinion from 
appearances only, I would say that the Indian 
dog was originally a hybrid produced from the 
union of a wolf and a fox. The internal struc- 
ture of these animals is similar to that of the dog, 
and there is a great sameness of external appear- 
ance. 

Dr. Robertson has said that the red men Oj- 
America had not tamed any animal. This is not 
true. The dog was domesticated by them and 
used in the north western tribes for draught as 
well as for hunting. In some of the south-west- 
ern nations, the wild turkey and some other birds 
were domesticated ; and in Peru, several animals 
were reclaimed from their wild state. 



DCCS. b. 

It is uot a little astonishing that thaHatural hh- 
lory oi' so important an animal as the dog shoulil 
be involved in so mncli obscurity. Some natural- 
ists suppose that he is a distinct species ; others 
consider him as a derivative from the jackal), the 
hyena, the wolf, fox, and their commixtures ; and 
I have no hesitation in saying that I am inclined 
to the latter opinion. The most astonishing fact 
in zookgy is, that the offspring of distinct ani- 
mals, having different periods of gestation will be 
fruitful. 

The canis familiaris, or domestic dog, Is gravid 
from 60 to 63 days. The wolf 100 according to 
Shaw^, and 70 according to others. The jackal 
30 days, and the arctic fox 63; aud yet tiiere is 
no doubt but that the hybrid of the wolf and dog 
will produce offspring. 

In like manner the gyall or bos fontalis of the 
East Indies, is gravid eleven months, and the do- 
mestic ox and American bison or buffalo, nine 
months ; and yet they will have a fruitful race. 

Buffon placed the wolf and female dog togetherj 
and also the fox, and yet they had no connexion. 
The experiment however was not a fair one, 
Wild animals, particularly the wolf and fox, when 
caught lose their activity and spirits, and pine 
away. Linnaeus enumerates 11, and Buffcn 30 
fixed varieties of dogs, and some of thecn are as 



B3 r>6c.'S. 

dissimilar as it is possible fur animals of the sarri?" 
genus to be. AVhat can be more unlike than the 
lap-dog and the mastiff — the Irish grey-hound 
and the common cur. 

The Indian dog vvhicli I saw \yas accompanied 
by his red master, and it immediately brought to 
my mind the beautiful lines of Pope. 

Lo the pool' Indian ! whose untutored mind 
Sees God in clouds or hears him in the wind : 
His soul proud science never taught to stray 
Far as the solar walk or milky way : 
Yet simple nature to his hope has given, 
Behind the cloud-topt hill; an humbler heaven — 
Some safer w orld in depth of w oods cmbrac"d, 
Some happier island in the watery waste, 
"Where slaves once more their native land behold, 
Ts'o fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold. 
To be, contents his natural desire, 
He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire 3 
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 
His faithful dog shall bear him company. 

St. Pierre well observes, that the dog is a true 
friend, and the cat a courtier — the former is at- 
tached to the person, and the latter to tlie house 
of his master; and Buffon concludes his splendid 
panegyric on the dog, by pronouncing that *' he 
js the only animal, whose natural talents are con- 
spicuous, and whose education is always success- 
ful." 

When Ulysses, after an absence of twenty years, 
returned to his home in the garb of a beggar, al- 



CUSTOMS. 89 

tiiougli lb' recognizetl by his fultliful wife, or do- 
mestics, yet his old dog Argus immediately knew 
liis master, and expired in a paroxysm of joy. 
What a striking eulogium on the sagacity and 
fidelity of tlie dog! how true to nature, and how 
worthy of the Prince of Poets : it is the most pa- 
'hetic scene in the Odyssey. 



LETTER XX. 

Canandaigua, June, 1820," 
My deae. Sir, 

A LATE English traveller, who published s 
book of travels, and who calls himself John Cam 
Hobhouse, has declared in the true John Bull 
style, when smarting under the privations and 
sufferings of a barbarian country, that " properly 
speaking, the word comfort cannot be ap- 
plied to any thing he ever saw out of England." 
1 have travelled much, both in the United States 
and in Great Britain, and 1 can truly say, that 
making allowance for the difference in price, and 
the newness of settlement, the accommodations 
are not superior in the latter. The unhappines^ 
of life frequently proceeds more from a series and 
repetition of petty vexations, than great and over- 
whelming calamities, and these miseries in minia" 



DO in^ui3itivem:s5. 

ture are ficqucully occasioned, if not aggravated 
by the neglect of small observances and attention.-, 
and by the disquietudes which irregular and dis- 
orderly men continually produce. A custom pe- 
culiarly American, is to lean back on the chair 
with extended legs. I never saw an European 
practice this impropriety. The practice of drum- 
ming with the fingers, as if practising on a har|;- 
slcord, on chairs, sofas and tables, is so prevalent, 
that I am almost inclined to pronounce the Ame- 
ricans a musical people. Again, the handling of 
forks, and knives, and spoons, and plates, at table, 
when not in use, evinces the activity and sprightly 
habits of this ever stirring nation. Travelling 
incog. I have passed myself off as a person who 
w ants to buy a tract of land. This has been 
rumoured about the countr\^, and persons are 
continually teazing me with proposals to sell : 
and these interviews are accompanied with search- 
iuQ questions, which reach not only to the bot- 
tom of my business, but to the bistory of my 
whole life. I verily believe that a witness in s. 
court of civil Jaw, never underwent a more sifting 
examination than I sometimes experience. The 
visitor generally opens the conference by propo- 
sing to trade for land, and perhaps we may sicaj) 
farms — and then he digresses into a long enquiry 
about my age, nativity, country, family, business^ 



INQ,UI5ITIVEN£SS. 



^i 



politics, I ciigioii, &:c. Sec. which generally cousiimes 
two hours. If I can escape with an hour's audi- 
ence of this kind, I think myself well off— and all 
this is managed in a style so truly diplomatic and 
respectful, that it is impossible to take odence. 
A direct* interrogatory is rarely put, and I some- 
times amuse myself by baftling the question, and 
increasing the impatience of unsatisfied curiosity. 
For instance, I frequently apply a negative to 
every question. Did you come from France, sir ? 
No. From Holland.^ No. From England? No. 
From Scotland? No. From Ireland? I can't say. 
From the Westindies ? 1 don't know. From Mas- 
sachusetts? No. From Nantucket ? No. From 
Cape Cod ? No. Then, exclaimed the impatient 
inquirer, where in the world did you come from ? 
From beyond the Atlantic, sir. This silenced 
the man for some time^ — but again he rallied his 
forces, and presented his questions in another 
shape. Let me see, said he, you have somewhat 
of the tone of a Yorkshire man, or a Scotchman. 
May be, sir. Ts it true, said he, that the potatoes 
of your country, Ireland, are better than ours ? 
Humph — said I. How long were you coming from 
Cork, sir? Humph — said I. Is your sovereign, 
George 4th, as wise as his father? Go and see. Did 
you see counsellor Sampson, your countryman, in 
New-York ? Yes, said I, but I do not admit that I 
am an Irishman. Do you know Gideon Grange? 



03 



TRAVELLING. 



and Natlianle] Gorham f Perhaps so. Were you iu 
this country during the last war ? My patience 
could stand it no longer, and I took up my hat, 
and excused myself by saying, that I had particu- 
lar business, and must take a walk. 

The inns are generally comfortable, clean, con- 
venient, and well supplied with provisions ; but 
still there is room for improvement, and many 
little accommodations are overlooked. I have 
seen bells no where but at the great inn at 
Geneva, and scrapers no where but at the sign of 
the whale in Chitteningo. There are few carpets, 
and instead of blinds on the inside or outside of 
the windows, to exclude heat and excess of light, 
the windows are generally curtained with a coarse 
kind of paper, which is as difficult to move as a 
fifty-six, and whicli is constantly rattling about 
your ears like hail : and by the by, in the best 
private houses, you frequently see papered rooms, 
which serve as an asylum for bugs and other 
vermin, instead of painted or stained apartments, 
which never admit them : and when you go to 
rest you plunge into the gulf profound of a Scan- 
dinavian feather bed, from which it is difficult to 
retreat, and in which it is still more difficult to 
move. 

The prices of travelling in stages, and of living 
in some hotels are too high, when coiispared with 



INNS. 9 J 

(lie genei'al fall of commodities and wages. It 
is true tliat the liorn of plenty scatters its blessings 
in profusion. Your breakfast and tea table is 
overloaded with cakes, green cucumbers, pickled 
rucumbcrS} cheese, swcatmeats, and sallad, be- 
sides more agreeable viands ; but then tlie cofiee 
>3 sonjctiaies burnt (not roasted) so that the aroma 
escapes ; or you have the deleterious green tea 
instead of black- — and instead of wholesonie 
breadj you are served with a mixture of flour and 
niilli, which is really disgusting ; because as soon 
as the latter ingredient acidifies, it taints the whole 
mass, and oiiends the smell as well as the taste. 
The bacon and egg;^, at dinner, and the broiled 
chickens and veal cutlets are \cry fine. You 
have good beer and cider — fine wine is rarely to 
be got. And in this country of cheap tai:iber3 
the ice houses are comparativelj'rare. 

VV hen you call for a meal, you are frequently 
;arprised to find yourself surrounded by strange 
travellers. This is a contrivance of Madame 
Traiteur to save trouble — and then it is consider- 
d an essential etiquette to place a neatly dressed 
f^raale at table, to preside over its ceremonies^ 
and to pour out the coilee. This is frequently 
\QYy agreeable, and you are often pleased with 
the conversation of a modest, sensible young 
woman. 



94 



CANAL. 



The principal signs of taverns are dcscripiix e 
of the genius and feelings of a peopkv In this 
country, the bald eagle, the symbol of national 
glory — the implements and products of agricul- 
ture, the signs of national wealth — and masonic 
figures, the emblems of national chanty, adorn 
t!ie inns. Sometimes you meet with a whale, a 
lion, or a horse — but where do you ijot see 
unmeaning and absurd exhibitions f 

The weather is extremely hot : so much so, 
that I can hardly think or write. A man gene- 
rail}' observes llirongh the medium of his feelings. 
When you are overwhelmed with fatigue, oppres- 
sed with hear, or overpowered with cold, how 
can yoa see accurately, or describe justly f Is 
net this the true key io most of the nor.sense and 
fable of travellers ? 



LETTER XXL 



My Dear Sis, 

In attempting io describe the great water com- 
munications of this region, I am sensible that I: 
have undertaken a task which far transcends myi 
faculties. An elegant poet has truly said " None; 
but a Phidias should attempt a Jove.' Eut asj 
you have considered my 1 Uters witli kindne--?, I 



CANAL. 



95 



shaii not be deterred by my acknowledged incom« 
petency from gratifying your wishes. 

It appears to me thai in seasons of great heat, 
a change of water is as essential to health on 
canals, as a change of air is in houses. Fresh 
water is as important as fresh air : and whenever 
this is neglected, the banks of canals will exhibit 
the same diseases as the country in the vicinity of 
any other stagnant waters. A considerable part 
oftiiis canal runs through a region of gypsum 
which it is well known consists generally of 32 
parts of lime, 4G of sulphuric acid, and 22 of 
water. These component parts may indeed dif- 
fer in ditlerent species and varieties, and gypsum 
sometimes contains foreign ingredients, such as 
alumhie, iron and silica. The principal consti- 
tuent, being sulphuric acid, and this substance, 
which is commonly called oil of vitrol, and which 
is derived from sulphur and oxygen, being neces- 
sarily unwiiolesome, 'i\i]l communicate its quali- 
ties to the canal in the most deleterious manner, 
if the water is left in a stage of stagnation. Be- 
sides this, the water will by freqncnt change bo 
supplied with fresli solutions of lime, which will 
have a tendency to neutralize llie miasmata of 
vegetable putrefactions. In old settled countries, 
tapid streams are an indication of salubrity, but 
in this western region, \\hcre the waters arc mi- 



96' CANAL, 

pregnated with vegetable decompositions, it i^; 
remarked, that at places of great precipitation of 
this fluid — at great falls, which increase the rapid- 
ity of its motion, bilious and malignant fevers art* 
more prevalent, becatise more miasmata are 
brought into activity, and infused into the atmos- 
phere, and this evil vili continue until cultivation 
prevents the supply of vegetable putrefaction. I 
am therefore pleased at hearing that new feeders 
have been provided. You may recollect that in 
a former communication, I told you that I would 
give you my view of the causes of the late freezing 
and early thawing of the waters on this canal. 
This is owing, in my opiniou, to the abundance 
of sulphuric acid in it. It is well known that 
water and sulphuric acid combine so intimately 
and closely, that the compound gives out a large 
portion caloric. Four pounds of this atid, mix- 
ed with one pound of water, will raise the ther- 
mometer to 300 degrees of Farenheit. There 
are undoubtedly auxiliary, as well as counteract- 
ing causes which act in relation to the greater 
heat of the canals. 

The canal will however have a most beneficial 
effect in increasing the healthiness of tlie country. 
It will act as a great drain to carry off the redun- 
dant waters, and to dry up the sources of pesti 
lence. 



CANAL. 97 

In my opinion, the period of the greatest lui- 
heolthlness of a coantry, is the intermediate state 
be':v cen a state of nature and a state of cultivation- 
Til'? le'Irog; of trees produces vegetable decompo- 
sitia-.f, and opens the earth and the water to the 
action of solar heat. Evaporation and exhala- 
tion are augmented, and poisons which were be- 
fore inert and inactive, are excited into deleterious 
activity. The Python of the ancient mythology 
was intended to represent the terrible miasmata of 
this or an analogous state. Ovid thus speaks of 
the events which immediately followed the deluge. 

Ergo ubi diluvio tellus lutulenta recent! 
Solibus sethereis altoquo recanduit sstu, 
Edidlt enumeras species : partimque fiffura? 
Ret'ilit antiquas : partiin nova monstra creavjt. 
Ilia quidem nollet, sed te qnoque, maxime Pvthor, 
Turn genuit ; populisqne novis, incognite serpens, 
Terror eras : tanturn spatii de monte tetiebas. 

The influence of cultivation was personified in 
Apollo, who slew the serpent. 

Although the clearing of a country does not! 
create new beings yet it multiplies their number, 
and augments their power of good and evil. The 
food which is furnished to the voracity of insects, 
and the heat which is administered to their pro- 
pagation and growth, are increased by settlement. 
]Maa — the useful creatures by which he is surrour • 



98 CANAL. 

ded — and the beneficial vegetables which he in- 
troduces, invite the annoyance of this tribe of 
beings; and the great numbers of some invaria- 
bly indicate an unhealthy state of the atmosphere, 
and in some degree contribute to it. 

Respice finem. The diseases which necessarily 
follow from the clearing of a country will be im- 
puted to the peculiar malignity of this canal. Is 
there not in human nature a diabolical spirit 
which delights 

'• to damn and to destroy ?" 

What pleasure can be derived from the deface- 
ment of milestones — the prostration of monuments 
— -the destruction of aqueducts ? — and yet, go 
where you will, and you will see the ravages of 
Van dalle fury. I have just been told that a ruf- 
fian was caught in destroying the banks of the 
canal. The state prison will be his destiny. 
But in the eye of morality and patriotism, is not 
{he wretch equally culpable, who endeavors to 
arrest this great improvement, by poisoning the 
public mind — by calumniating its patrons — and 
by circulating false reports about its stability 
and usefulness. 



BURNING SPRINGS. 99 

LETTER XXII. 

Canandaigua, Juli/, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

1 was yesterday informed that there is a burn- 
ing spring a few miles from this place, and I im- 
mediately set oat to view it. I soon found it 
about eight miles to the southwest of Canandaigua, 
in a district o. country called Bristol. A small 
stream flows at the foot of a hi!) about 30 feet 
}iigh, and contains pure water, and small fish 
The gas bubbles up in the water tbzough spiracula, 
and also issues from the dry ground adjacent. Iii 
the first place it appears like boiling water, aiid 
in the last place it is in a state of flame : It 
smells like the smell of a lamp, without a rank, 
unctuous quality, and burns like the flame of a 
candle, or ignited wood, or coal, and it is some- 
times in a state of ignition the greater part of the 
year. It was discovered accidently by a man 
clearing land on the hill ; a brand fell down and 
ignited the gas which issues through many spira- 
cula or apertures. 

The stone in the vicinity is shale, and some- 
times contains a small calcareous mixture, as is 
evident from its slight efiervescence with sulphu- 
ric acid. On my return to this place, I was told 
^hat a similar spring has been discovered near a 
bed of gypsum in West Bloomfield; and five or 



100 1BURNING SPRINGS. 

sic in Richmond, soiilli-west of the one I visited ; 
both these districts border on Bristol. There is 
also a burning spring at Chippeway, in Upper 
Canada, and another in Westmoreland, ten or 
twelve miles west of Utica, near the Seneca (urn- 
pike road. They probably exist in many places 
in this region, and'they appear to range from east 
to west, diverging a little to the south-west. 

The gas which composes these burning springs, 
is carb.jrett'?d 4iydrogen gas, or carbon dis- 
solved In hydrogen. It is the fire-damp of coal 
mines, and whenever the atmosphere of a mine 
becomes charged with more than one-thirteenth 
of its volume of thl^ gas, the whole beG4)mes 
explosive. The priests who direct the worship of 
the followers of Zoroast^er in Persia, Impose this 
gas, when in flame, upon their sect as the Imm.or- 
tal fire, after having conducted it by secret con- 
duits into their temples. 

I have been informed by a gentleman from the 
state of Ohio, that at Rocky Hill, In that country, 
about a mile and a half from Lake Erie, an 
attempt was made to bore the earth for salt. Af- 
ter proceeding to nearly the depth of 200 feet, 
the auger fell, and salt water rose through the 
aperture, and played for several hours. After the 
water was spent, volumes of inflammable air issued 
forth for a long time, and formed a cloud, which, 



BURNING SPUING^. 101 

c<»Qjmunicating with the fire in the workmen's 
shops, became ignited, and consumed every thing 
in the vicinity. Large quantities of coal are 
close hy. 

Hollinshed states in his Chronicles, that at the 
time of a great earthquake in the reign of Henr}'!. 
"" fii-e burst out of certain rifles of the earth in so 
huge flames, that neither by water nor otherwise 
could it be quenched." And Southey speaks of 
sea-fires which rose from the sea, travelled into 
the isterior, and consumed many towns. These 
undoubtedly proceeded from large collections of 
carbnretted hydrogen gas, extracted from the 
bowels of the earth, and put in a state of ignition. 

As this gas is partly generated from carbon, 
the principal constituent of coal, it is an almost 
certain indication of a coal mine. I admit that 
it is not an infallible one, and that it may be 
extracted from other substances, but tlus can 
rarely, if ever, occur in large quantities. The 
actual existence of coal at Rocky Hill, and of 
shale, the roof of coal mines, at Bristol, justify 
beyond question the correctness of my conclu- 
sions. 

Here then is an important developement, which, 
in connexion with a preceding letter, shows satis- 
factorily the existence of coal throughout this 
region. Bituminous and sulphur springs confirm 



i02 TREES. 

the impression : and the wide and extended range 
of these and burning springs, prove that this all 
important fossil is to be found in great plenty 
over the whole country. 



LETTER XXIII. 

Canandaigua. July, 1S20. 
My Dear Sir, 

The larch, or pinus larix, takes a high rank 
among European trees, for the excellent qualities 
of its wood and bark. " The most barren moun- 
tains will grow larches," says Bishop Watson, 
and the experiment has been successfully and 
repeatedly tried in Scotland, whose bleak and 
rugged mountains now exhibit vigorous vegeta- 
tion. From this tree the Venice Turpentine is 
extracted. Taken internally, its resins are aperi- 
ent, sudorific, diuretic, and stomacliic ; and 
applied externall}^, they are anodyne, detersive, 
and antlsceptic. 

In this country there are two species of larch, 
although they have been generally considered as 
varieties, and they are denominated tamarack, 
or hack-matack. The larix pendula, or black larch 
is found in cedar swamps, and the larix micro- 
carpa, or rod larch, on high mountains according 



TREES. i(ji} 

to Pursh. Tliey closely resemble each other, bi;i 
that they are specifically distinct, has been satis- 
factorily established by Mr. Lambert, who obser- 
ved, that they always keep distinct, whea raised 
from seed. 

The American larch is said to resemble the 
European, where there are always two species ; 
but whether they are the same tree, 1 cannot dis- 
tinctly say. 

This tree has never been transplanted or culti- 
vated in this country. You now and then per- 
ceive a solitary one before a court yard. It is a 
beautiful, ornamental tree, and its rapid grow th 
and adaptation to the most barren soils, recom- 
mend it decidedly to the attention of the American 
agriculturist. 

" By cultivation," said Bishop Watson, " I 
mean tillage, pasturage, and plantation. The 
last, except for fruit trees, is totally neglected in 
this country. This is owing to the abundance of 
wood : but even already, the inhabitants of cities 
have been forced to import their coal from 
England. Every farmer ought to devote twenty 
acres to the planting of trees for fuel and build- 
ing — and using an acre a year, and continuing 
to replant, the deficiency will be supplied, allow- 
ing twenty years for the growth of wood. The 
Hindoo, wiio plants a tree, digs a well, and has u 



104 FORESTS. 

son, is sure of heaven. It is to be regretted, thi 
some strong and similar inducement does nc 
operate in America. 

All the roads and canals ought to be lined wit 
forest trees. The shade will be agreeable, an 
the view delightful to travellers. 

The Americans are a ship-building people. A 
it is calculated, will take the wood of fifty acre 
Is it not time for them to look out for futurit 
and not to anticipate the supplies of future gen 
rations ? 

In passing from Rome to Syracuse, you st 
uothing but one great forest, wliich must conta 
many millions of cords of wood : but already ha' 
the axe and the fire-brand been applied, ai 
before the lapse of 50 years, these immense woo( 
will fall before the hand of cultivation. Wh 
then will become of the great manufactories 
salt, unless coal is discovered, or plantation ado 
ted ? Both must be attended to — wood will alwa 
lie required for navigable and architectural pu 
poses. The swamps west of Rome are filled wi 
turf or peat, as I perceived from the canal packi 



IQS 



D( 



WILD RICE- 105 

LETTER XXIV. 

Canandaigiia, July, 1820. 
SIy Dear Sir, 

I saw, for the first time, in the Seneca river at 
Montezuma, the aquatic plant, called wild rice 
')r folle avoine. It grows all over the west and 
^^lorth — and wherever it flourishes, myriads of 
"jtvater fowls are attracted to it, and derive their 
:hief support and exquisite flavour from its ali- 
mentary qualities. In the lakes and rivers adjoin- 
^^\ng Montezuma, thousands of wild geese and 
•"ducks of all kinds congregate atthe proper season 
''Tor food, except the canvas back duck, or anis 
"K'ulisneria of Wilson, which derives its name from 
"'a, water plant called valisneria, on the roots of 
''' which it feeds, and which is a fresh water vegeta- 
lable, that grows in some parts of the Hudson and 
"{Delaware, and in most of the rivers that fall into 
'JUie Chesapeake. 

Some difficulty has occurred not only about 
lihe botanical name, but also about the botanical 
character of the wild rice, or wild oats. This 
confusion of nomenclature has arisen from Lin- 
BcGus himself. In his species plantarum, he has 
denomhialed it zizania aquatica, and in his Man- 
tbsa, zizania paluslris — and it has been called 



106 WILD RICE. 

by other botanists, z. clavulvsa — I shall prefer the 
first name as most characteristic. It has been 
well described by Mr. Lambert, as 

Zizania panicnla iiiferne racemosa snperne spi- 
cnta. Pursh represents il as a perennial plant ; 
Nuttall and Michaux are silent on tliis point, and 
Eaton says it is an annual, in which opinion I 
concur. 

]\Ir. Lambert, in a communication in the Tth 
volume of the Transactions of the Linnaean Soci- 
ety of London, has given a figure of this plant, ^s 
growing at Spring Grove, tlie seat of Sir Joseph 
Banks, in England. It appears that Sir Joseph 
received some of the seed, gathered in a lake, in 
Canada, and put up in jars of water. It was 
Fown in a pond at Spring grove, vrliere he has a 
great quantity^ of the plant, growing annually, 
ripening its seeds extremely well in autumn, and 
sowing itself round tlie edges. 

By what I can learn, this same plant grows in 
Lake George, and I/ake Champlain, and in all 
the Western Lakes. It produces seed in some 
places in September, and in others in October. 
It grows in shallow water, and sometimes to the 
lieighth of eight feet. Some of the western 
Indians derive their principal r support from it. 
The grain it bears is superior to the common 
rice, and if cut before ripe, if makes excellent 



WILD RICE. 107 

focUer, embracing the advantages of hay and oat?, 
Mr. Lambert's figure of the plant in the Linnnsn 
Transactions is accurate, and exactly resembles 
the one growing in the Seneca river. Its produc- 
tiveness may be inferred from the food it furnislies 
to thousands of human beings, and to myriads of 
aquatic animals. From the success of the expe- 
riment of Sir Joseph Banks, it is highly probable 
that it will grow in any part of this country and 
Great Britain ; and if so, may it not be consider- 
ed as a good substitute for the oryza sativa or 
common rice. It is well known that the latter 
furnishes more subsistence to the human race than 
any other plant. Pursh mentions a grass v^hich 
he calls the or^'zopsis asperifolia, which he obser- 
ved on the broad mountains of this country, and 
v/hich, he s^iys, contains large seeds, that produce 
the finest ilonr. Perhaps this species of oryzop- 
sis, although gencrically dilftTent, bears the same 
relation to z. aquatica, in its importance and 
place of growth, as the mountain rice of India 
does to the comnmn rice of that region. At all 
events, the more 1 see of this country, the more I 
am convinced of its vast ability to support tfie 
human species, and of the propriety of calliiig its. 
latent powers into operation. 



i08 INSECTS, 



LETTER XXV. 

Canandaiguay July, 1820, 
My dear Sir, 

In passing by a spring a ^ev/ days ago, I was 
called by some acquaintance to look at what they 
called a curiosity. It was the filaria, horse-hair 
worm, or gordius aquaticus — its color was dusky, 
its length four or five inches, and its thickness 
about the size of a horse-hair. They represented 
it as a real horse-hair, transformed into an animal 
by being thrown into water, and although in 
other respects intelligent men, they no doubt con- 
scientiousl3' believed it. Providence has design- 
ed this little animal to perforate the most compact 
and tenacious clay, by which means the imprison- 
ed waters of subterranean springs find a passage 
up for the use of man, and otlier organic beings. 
In consequence of this incident, I was about 
making some sage remarks on the low state of 
natural science in this country, when it occurred 
to me that the same doctrine of equivocal gene- 
ration, or spontaneous production, was advocated 
from the time of the Stagyrite down to Priestley 
and Darwin. Harvey was the first philosopher 
who had the temeritv to enter the. lists^ in this 



r^sECTs. . ioo 

case, against Aristotle. He advanced the propo- 
sition, omnia ex ovo, and the most profound and 
elaborate investigations of philosophy have con- 
firmed his opinions. The polype furnishes indeed 
an argument against this doctrine. If divided 
into several parts, each part will become a per- 
fect animal. I can only surmount this objection 
by supposing each polype, as it appears in its 
usual shape, to be a congeries of animals, aggluti- 
nated together, and when a separation takes place 
that complete beings will exist in a state capable 
of enlargement. We see something analogous in the 
vegetable world. Trees produced from the cut- 
ting, without any sexual annexion. It is suppo- 
sed that the weeping willow, or salix Babylonica, 
was introduced Jnto Europe at the time of the 
Crusades. It was transplanted from the river 
Euphrates about the year 1748, by Mr. Vernon, 
a Turkish merchant, at his country seat in Eng- 
land. The English as well as the American 
weeping willow is a female, and exists in both 
countries in a widowed state. Ft is propagated 
from the cutting, and so is the Lombardy poplar, 
which is only a male in America. 

The introduction of pernicious insects ought 
to be carefully guarded against, and yet it i* 
almost impracticable. Numbers of exotic insects 

are imported in timber and packages of gooxl^, 
F 2. 



110 INSECTS. 

The scarlet locust, figured by Edwards in his 
Natural History, came accidentally alive fronri 
the West Indies in a basket of pine apples. A 
very curious instance was observed in England 
in 181 0, when an insect of the genus buprestis was 
taken from a desk made of fir, brought from the 
Baltic, and fixed up in 1788 or 1789. The cimex 
lectularius, or bed bug, was scarcely known in 
England until sixteen hundred se^ enty, when it is 
said to have been imported among timber used 
in rebuilding London, after the great fire of 1666. 
The Americans assert the same thing in a more 
extended sense, and insist that fleas, moth, bed- 
bugs and cock roaches, are foreigners. 1 do not 
believe that either allegation is correct. In 1670 
there were not probably many bedsteads in Eng- 
land to attract the bug. Rushes and straw form- 
ed, at that period, the couches of most of the peo- 
ple. I know that pigeons often swarm with bed 
bugs, and also the domestic rabbit. I can speak 
from experience, when I say that the American bed 
bug is a larger variety than the English. How 
€asy to avoid this evil by frequent ablutions — by 
bedsteads made of iron, or without any apertures 
— and by the use of a little sandal wood, which 
is an antidote against all kinds of insec's, or in 
this case, of sassafras, which is said to be a com- 
plete preventive of the cimex lectularius, and 



INSECTS. Ill 

precautions of this kind become aLsolutely iieces- 
ary, when it is considered that this insect is con- 
stantly conveyed in the clothes and baggage of 
travellers. The flea is certainly indigenous. It 
swarms in the most remote pine woods, and I 
have found it on squirrels. The cock-roach may, 
as Kalm supposes, have been imported from the 
West Indies : It has certainly found a congenial 
climate, because it increases greatly : Like all 
other winged insects, it travels rapidly. As to 
moths, I shall not undertake to pronounce on 
their origin ; but I can furnish you with a com- 
plete antidote against their ravages. Red cedar 
wood will effectually answer. Russia leather is 
tanned with this substance, and books bound with 
it set moths at defiance. 

But I see you smile at my insect learning; and 
if you serve this letter as you have done some of 
its predecessors, and publish it, I shall probably 
incur the satire of the graciosos or buffoons of 
New-York. Aristophanes, in his attack on 
Socrates, charged him with measuring the leap 
of a flea, and the most virulent accusation against 
Jefferson is the impalement of butterflies. What 
then do I care if I experience the fate of the most 
illustrious men of ancient and modern times. 



112 PARTIES. 



LETTER XXVf 

July, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

The laws of Athens inflicted death on a foreign- 
er who should attempt to speak in the assemblies 
of the people, and I think that such an unwarran- 
table interference with the sovereign authority 
deserved punishment. As a stranger and an 
alien, receiving the hospitalities and protection of 
this people, I do not consider myself authorised 
to meddle with their politics ; but it is impossible 
lo seal hermetically your ears against the noise 
and turbulence of political contention. Every 
tillage has its political generals, who convert the 
bar room of the inn into an arena of controversy, 
and sometimes, seated in a corner, 1 have been 
compelled to hear the accusations, the grievances 
and the vindications of the belligerent parties ; and 
amidst the persiflage or jargon of the times, I can 
easily perceive that the whole controversy is 
about the offices of the country. After listening 
to a philippic of great virulence for some time, 
clothed in terms of general reprobation, I asked 
the orator to point out the reprehensible measures 
of the government. He approved of every thing 



PARTIES. 113 

but bad appointments. Good men, said he, 
(looking big) are not noticed — federalists are 
appointed — republicans ought to have all the 
offices. I solicited him to explain the dilTerence 
between a republican and a federalist. Wh}^, said 
he, a republican is a republican, and a federalist 
is a federalist. At this stage of the conversation, 
the orator was called out, and I understood that 
he had been, until lately, an ultra federalist — that 
at a celebration of Perry's victory on Lake Erie, 
during the late w^ar, he had fired pop guns in 
ridicule of the event, and that he had abjured in a 
company of two score or so of high-minded men^ 
his political name and creed, in order to attain 
office. The great clamour made in the commu- 
nity, appears to originate from such obsure and 
disreputable sources. Judging from the wTitings 
and conversation of this opposition, 1 should pro- 
nounce a great dearth of talent among them : and 
perhaps, if I may speak paradoxically, they owe 
some of their strength to their weakness. Their 
antagonists, in forming a just opinion of their 
want of intellectual power, appear to have under- 
rated their capabilities for mischief, and not to 
have guarded sufficiently against their attacks, 
lord Clarendon hasjustly remarked, thai '- few men 
have done more harm than those who have been 
thought to be able to do leasts and there cannot be 



J 14 parties: 

a greater error, than to believe a man whom we 
see qualified with too mean parts to do good, to 
be therefore incapable of doing hurt. There is 
a supply of malice, of pride, of industry, and even 
of folly, in the weakest, when he sets upon it, that 
makes a strange progress in mischief." 

The history of parties is a history of struggles 
for office and authority on the part of the leaders, 
who beguile the honest feelings of the people into 
their traps of ambition, and the greater the cla- 
mour, the more inordinate the cupidity. It is 
common for a dog shut out of a house in the even- 
ing, to bark and make a great noise, until some- 
body opens the door, and then instantly whip in 
and be quiet. This is a true delineation of the 
leaders of faction. 

This state is making rapid and gigantic strides 
to eminence and greatness. Her canals are the 
admiration of the world, and her encouragement 
of agriculture, literature, and the arts, is truly 
munificent. To see the profligate atte-mpts to 
arrest this great system of public improvement, in 
order to elevate obscure petifoggers, and misera- 
ble drivellers, is really calculated to excite more 
than common sensibility. *' Men, says an emi- 
nent writer, who honestly engage themselves in 
the public cause, must prepare themselves for 



GEOLOGY. il>5" 

events \vliich will at once demand tLelr patience 
and rouse their indignation." 

I have frequently been struck with the strata- 
gems adojDted by drovers, to drive their cattle to 
market, by dividing them into separate herds, to 
manage them completely. In like manner, the 
people are led by the divisions created by ambi- 
tious and unprincipled men, for the purposes of 
self-aggrandizement. Although these excitements 
have recoiled upon the agitators, and will unques- 
tionably seal their political ruin, yet they are 
calculated to work great injury. The most 
diminutive insect may annoy the mightiest ele- 
phant, and the continual harrassments of politi- 
casters may sometimes affect the plans of the 
wises statesmen. A combination of smatterers Id 
literature, of sciolists in knowlege, of pretenders 
to public spirit, and of all that is little and con- 
temptible, against all that is great and respectable 
can never prevail in an enlightened and patriotic 
countrv. 



11() GEOLOGY. 



LETTER XXVIL 

July, iS20e 
My Dear Sir, 

The gradual changes which are constantly car- 
rying on in this globe by the agency of fire, wa- 
ter, frost, and caloric, must in course of time de- 
range its central gravity, and produce an over- 
whelming revolution. The formation of stalac- 
tites and stalagmites, by the gradual accretion of 
calcerous matter, from water, filtrating through 
the more porous lime-stone, is well understood — 
and this accretion arises unquestionably from the 
passage of the water when saturated with lime 
from a heated to a cool atmosphere. The depo- 
sition of calcareous substances in the fissures of 
rocks from the water in which it was suspended, 
constitutes alabaster. And whenever water, im- 
pregnated with lime, comes in contact with cooler 
er water, it will deposit its calcareous matter, which 
will in course of time harden into stone. All the 
streams and rivers of the west, are filled with car- 
bonate of lime, sulphate of lime, argillaceous 
schistus, and silicious stone, in a state of solution, 
but principally with the first, and when they enter 
into the'lakes, rocks are gradually formed. The 



GEOLOGY. 117 

bottoms of Lake Erie and Ontario are principally 
lime-stone, which is in a state of augmentation. 
In the county of Onondaga, at a place called the 
Little Lakesj I observed the great elaboratory of 
nature at work in the formation of calcareous 
rocks, and as T humbly conceive, by a double 
process. First, by depositions from its waters in 
which lime was diOused — and second, by the 
! operation of springs rising from the bottom of the 
lakes, and extruding calcareous matter from the 
bowels ol the earth. Whether I am correct as to 
this complex power, I cannot say— but as to the 
fact of the creation of tufa, it must be obvious to 
the most inexperienced eye. In order to gain all 
the light I could on this interesting subject, I 
took a short journey to the village of Marcellus, 
in the connty of Onondaga. The production of 
lime stones of large size at nine mile creek, near 
this place, is a ver}^ extraordinary thing. On the 
banks of the creek, there is a petrified or fossil 
tree, over wiiich there is a large limestome, and 
which stone must have been formed after the petri- 
faction of the tree, and the wliole process is appa- 
rent to the observer. After the first deposition, 
and a consequent induration, the stone is covered 
by a lichen which retains a subsequent deposition, 
and which hardens and enlarges as before. The 
hardness of the lime stone Increases with its depifi 



118 GEOLOGY. 

and it finally- reposes on schistus. The petriiac- 
tion of the tree is owing to the calcareous deposits. 
Saturated water continually passing over it, must 
leave some of its matter behind — and as the tree 
decays, its vegetable loss is supplied by mineral 
accretion — and sometimes the lime, in solution, is 
mixed with arenaceous particles which combine 
in the formation of the p re tri faction. I was told 
of three or four petrified white oaks at Chitteningo, 
which I had not an opportunity of observing, but 
the}' are said to lie under a gypsum hill, and to 
be subject to alluvions from it. 1 have seen the 
fossil tree at Pcnicuick in Scotland, which hns 
been the subject of so much speculation, and I 
can now account for its origin. It was produced 
from Silicious depositions passing over a Scotch 
pine. Tl e strata in which the remains of tlie tree 
are, consist of slate clay, but the tree itseli is sand 
stone, and there is sand ston^ i-iiujediately above 
the slate clay. 

I have tried tlie fissii trees ori\-r.rcL'iiUs by the 
application c{ muriiitic acid, and I find by the 
efiervescence unequivocal indication of a calcare- 
ous substance. I also saw petriiied leave*;; atd 
tliere is a strong probability that animals may 
also be discovered in a petrified s'lape p od ed 
in the same wav. The human skeleton which 



GEOLOGY. 119 

was found inclosed in lime stone at Guadaloupe 
was no doubt a recent formation. 

We thus see, my friend, the wonderful opera- 
tions of nature. The Zoophytes of the South 
Sea are gradually encroaching upon the ocean 
by the erection of islands and reefs, and certainly 
by the agency of calcareous secretions. The lime 
stone rivers of the west are trespassing upon the 
Jakes with a stronger and more commanding pow- 
er. 

This country is calcareous- — its subsoil is form- 
ed of marie ; it is the region of salubrity. 

" There are more things in heaven and earth, Koratio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 

Depend upon it, my friend, that we are in A, B, 
C, of geology and miuerulogy. V^^^ have proceed- 
ed to these studies like children ai th: lirst ope-iing 
of their minds. We have learr.t words and names 
only. These sciences are oppressed and barri- 
cadoed by a polyglot mysterious nomenclature. 
They require some mighty gen'us like Bac^n or 
Newton to dissipate the Cimmerian darkness 
vrhich hangs over them. 



^2Q saliUa. 



LETTER XVIIl. 

Sdina^ Jul^^ 1820, 
My Dear Sir, 

. I have returned to this place to look at the 
great manufactories of salt, which are conducted 
on a very extensive scaie. The salt is not only 
better but cheaper that any in the United States ; 
its superiority in these essential respects arises 
from the strength of the water, the cheapness of 
fuel, the facility of water conveyance, and impro- 
ved skill in operation. It is supposed that five 
million bushels of salt are consumed annually in 
the United States, of which three millions are im- 
ported, and two made at home 5 and half a mil- 
lion is manufaotuced at this place. 

The salt springs are situate in a marsh, and by 
digging a pit any where in it, salt water is found. 
The brine is forced up by hand pumps and hy- 
draulic machines, and conveyed by leaders to 
the caldrons. One man can attend a block of 
ten kettles. Tlie process of manufacturing is 
simple. The water is exposed to a hot fire, and 
when it is suiHciently boiled down, the salt is 
taken out by a large ladle, and put into a basket, 
from whence the water exudes into the kettle. 



SALT WORKS. 12h 

The ladle is kept during the whole process in 
the caldron, and it is said collects all the feculent 
matter. 

The salt is of three kinds ; common, rectified, 
and basket, or table : and salt is made at Monte- 
xuma by solar evaporation. Fifty-six gallons oi 
water make a bushel of salt. It is said that it 
takes ]00 gallons at the Great Kanhawa river, 
and 300 at the Conemaugh works, near Pitts- 
burgh. Wood can be procured at 02 cents a 
cord, and two cords will supply a block of cal- 
drons for a day. 

The common salt is verj^ excellent — the recti- 
fied extraordinary so. The best kind of the lat- 
ter is put up in baskets of 3 lbs., which cost each 
twelve and and a half cents. 

It is supposed that the salt springs originate 
from subterranean rivers running over mines or 
beds of fossil salt, and as Salina is elevated 100 
feet above the Oswego falls, which are composed 
of sand stone, that the mineral can be found at 
that depth. Many phenomena all over this coun- 
try demonstrate the former presence of the ocean 
and it is supposed that a line of country consider- 
ably above the Cayuga marshes, and the Salina 
plains has been a sea shore. On the recession of 
the ocean, those great hollows must have retained 
vast quantities of saltwater, which would be con- 



1:22 SALT WORKS. 

verted into salt hy solar evaporation, or subter- 
ranean heat. But it is evident that this theory 
is not commensurate with all the facts in the case. 
Salt springs are found as far east as forty miles, 
and all over this western region. 

In 180G and 1819, years of great drought, tlie 
water was very weak. On what principles can 
we account for this extraordinary fact ? There 
never has been the least failure of water. 

I saw on the salt marsh, the samphire of the 
sea coast. Tournefort made tlie same observa- 
tions in his voyage to the Levant. " There arc, 
said he, some small risings of fossil salt in Geor- 
gia. This salt, which chrystalized in bottoms 
where the rain water stagnates, mixes with the 
moisture of the earth, and causes it to produce 
such plants as love the sea shore — such as salt- 
wert and limonium, 1 observed the same thing 
upon the mountain of Cardonna, situated on the 
frontiers of Catalonia and Arragon, which is 
Hpthing but a prodigious mass of salt." 

The country about the salt works is said to be 
unhealthy. The same evil has been noticed in 
other places. The spots in Greece, where the 
malaria is most noxious, are salt works and rice 
grounds. 

I have no doubt but salt can be procured at 
Salina for IS cents a bushel, including the duty 



SALT WORKS, 123 

©f 12.} cents. It can be transported to Albany 
for 6 or 7 cents more when the canal is finished. 
The duty on imported salt is 20 cents per bushe!. 
Tiie average price of salt at New-York, is from 
40 to 50 cents per bushel. Whether the 
foreign duty is continued or not, the salt of 
Salina can always be sold cheaper at the head of 
the sloop navigation of the Hudson, than foreign 
salt. Every individual in the United States con- 
sumes at the rate of half a bushel of salt, directly 
or indirectly. Supposing the consumption in the 
aggregate to be five millions of bushels, and the 
popidation ten millions, then that portion of the 
inhabitants which is comprehended in the supply 
from Salina, will not have to pay more than from 
124 to 25 cents for the annual consumption of 
that article. 

I consider the salt manufacture of Salina tlie 
most important establishment in the United States, 
It renders the nation so far independent of foreign 
aid : millions of bushels can be made. Without 
the canals it usefulness would be very circumscri- 
bed — but now the facilities of inland navigation 
enable the conveyance of this indispensible mine- 
ral to the remotest regions of the west, and to tl:e 
shores of the Adantic ocean. 



1:24 CANAL 



LETTER XXIX. 

Montezuma, July, 1820, 
My Dear Sir, 

I consider navigation on a canal, not only 
the least expensive, but the most secure mode of 
travelling that can be adopted. Here is no burst- 
ing of boilers nor any other accident to which 
steam-boats are exposed. You can neither be 
burnt nor drowned, and your horses cannot run 
away with your carriage and dash it to atoms ; 
but then you must be on the constant look out to 
tivoid a fracture of the head from the low and ill 
constructed bridges : why, in this country of 
wood, stone should be used for erecting bridges ; 
why they should be made so low^ as just to avoid 
the boat ; v/hy they should contain abutments, 
jutting out into the canal, and for ever striking 
the boat ; and v*'hy the stones should be piled 
upon each other without mortar, are questions 
which I must refer to the decision of the Canal 
Board and their engineers. If the bridges had 
been sufficiently elevated, then the boat could 
have been drawn from a mast instead of the side, 
as is practiced in Flanders, and an unceasing and 
pernicious wearing of the banks by the drag ropf 



CANAL. 125 

\vould have been prevented. 1 know of no oilier 
accideuts that can happen, except from the fall- 
ing of trees across the boat, or from tlie careless- 
ness of the men who have the management of the 
locks. 

I saw at Jordan, which is SO miles from Utica, 
two loaded boats, which had left Schenectady 
seven days before. This would average 25 miles 
a day, and part of the way is on a difficidt ascend- 
ing navigation irp the Mohawk. Again 5 a ves- 
sel of 50 tons went from Utica to Tramansburgh 
on the Cayuga Lake, 130 miles in three days, 
loaded with merchandize, and without a change 
of horses. A loaded boat can go on this canal 
without difficulty at the rate of 40 miles a day. 

I have just learnt that the state is about pur- 
chasing the rights of the Western Inland Lock 
Navigation Company. This is a very just and 
proper measure. The works of the Company 
are out of order, and the toll is exorbitant. 
Every bushel of wheat has to pay a duty of 59 
cents before it reaches Schenectadj^ 

The canal of this Company at Rome is one 
mile and three quarters long, thirty-two feet wide at 
top, and from two and a half to three feet deep. 
It has two locks 73 feet long, and 12 feet wide. 
The lift of the one on the Mohawk is ten feet, and 

*">n Wood Creek eight. This work was made 
G 



126 CANAL. 

under the direction .of Mr. Weston, an English 
engineer, who had, besides his expenses, a salary 
of a thousand guineas a year. The superintend- 
ant of the labprers had a salary of 2,500 dollars , 
and this short canal took two years to make. 
What a difference in management : proceeding 
at the same rate, it would take two centuries to 
complete the Great Canal. The water cement 
was imported. The lock at the German Flats 
was made of terras, and at the Little Falls of 
Welsh lime. The former has answered best. 

The tolls of this Company are so oppressive, 
that boats frequently unload and pass through the 
locks empty, and resume their load afterwards. It 
is indeed well that the state has purchased it. I am 
persuaded that the markets of New-York will now 
be supplied with western, instead of southern 
flour, and that the displacement of the latter from 
the market will greatly affect the agriculture of 
the south. 

In looking at the great results which must arise 
from it — it is impossible to keep out of view some 
of the revolutions which will take place in the in- 
ternal trade of the country. There is a certain 
class scattered all over, who unite in one profes- 
sion, the calling of iron mongers, grocers, drug- 
gists, and shop keepers, and who are continually 
offering temptations to purchasers. The facility 



C A5f AL. i 27 

oi" conveyance by the canal, will induce people to 
resort to villages for supplies. The thrifty house- 
wile will take her cheese and her butter to market, 
and return with her sugar and' tea. A numerous 
non-productive calling will be in some measure 
broken up, or confined to towns. 

A considerable deal of trade will be carried om 
by exchange, and more scope and greater en- 
couragement will be afforded for the operations 
of industry and economy. A vast capital will be 
employed to more advantage. A canal boat of 
40 tons can be purchased for 400 dollars, which, 
with two horses, will be cheaper than a heavy 
wagon and six horses, and will convey ten times 
as much. The comparative cheapness of canal 
barges to river sloops as well as wagons, will su- 
persede the necessity of very large investments of 
capital. 

With all these and other important advantages 
staring the community in the face, is it not extra- 
ordinary, that there should be an organized op- 
position against the canal ! that wretches should 
be encouraged to instil poison into the public 
mind against it, and to destroy its embankments ? 
By the bye, can you tell me why accidents in the 
bursting of embankments and mill-dams occui* 
more frequently in the night time than in the day f 



12S COAL. 

Are they owing to a greater pressure of the at- 
mosphere on the water ? 



LETTER XXX, 

Auburn. July, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

I AM so anxious for tlie discovery of coal, in 
order to promote the prosperity of this growing 
country, that I can hardly turn my eyes or my 
mind to any other subject : Sure 1 am that it ex- 
ists. 1 have seen indications in various places, 
but in truth you cannot get people to make the 
requisite search. It will consume time and mo- 
ney. They have plenty of wood, and they con- 
ceive any other fuel as a remote, if an attainable 
good. Coal was first introduced into London 
about the middle of the thirteenth century, and it 
goes by the various names of pit coal, stone coal, 
pitch coal, and sea coal. The citizens of Lon- 
don, in the 35th year of Edward I. petitioned that 
the use of it might be prohibited, considering it a 
noxious material. If this petition had been grant- 
ed, where would have been the wealili and power 
of England f If the citizens of this state do not 
evince open hostility, they certainly show a nar- 
cotic indilTerence on this interesting subject.. 



COAL. 120 

Being so fully impressed with the importance, 
antl practicability of obtaining coal, permit me to 
throw out a few hints, which may furnish materi- 
als, not only for observation, but for action. 

Birch, in his History of the Royal Society, ob- 
serves, that the mines in Devonshire and Corn- 
wall run east and west ; and this is said to be the 
case with coal and other minerals, except lead, 
which has not been observed to have any current 
or declivity of the vein, but is most commonly 
found north and south by the miners. Most 
mines lie high in the ivest and so deepen more and 
more the further east they run. So far as Qoal has 
been discovered in the western states, I am told it 
runs east and west, and in the same direction with 
gypsum, salt, lime, and sand stone ; and if it be 
true that it descends and deepens to the east, we 
may easily see why more has been discovered as 
you proceed to the west. 

I believe that I omitted to mention that whin- 
stone, or basaltes, whose hardness is such that 
its angular fractures will scratch glass, is found 
in most coal mines. As basalt is a secondary 
rock, I have no doubt but that it exists in many 
parts of this region, although I have only seen it 
at the Little Falls, which has to me much the 
aspect of a coal country, Shistic and sand stones 



y^ 



130 CANAL. 

are with lime the prevalent rocks, and they arf^ 
invariably the associates of the Coal formation. 

Sir Robert Atkins, in his History of Gloucester- 
shire, observes, that if 3^ou lay a line on the ter- 
restrial globe from the mouth of the Severn to 
Newcastle, and so pass round the globe, coal is to 
be found within a degree of that line, and. scarce 
any where else in the world. I have not the 
means of applying this remark to this country, 
but if you think it worth while to notice an ob- 
servation so eccentric and fanciful, your globe 
will soon enable you to do it. 

Whether coal is a chemical deposit, or vegeta- 
ble formation, I ai»' not prepared to say, but in 
any conceivable tiicor}', I am persuaded that the 
strongest reasons exist to show that it may be 
found in this country. 



LETTER XXXI. 

Montezuma J JuJt/j 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

When I travelled in the steam boat from New- 
York to Alban}^, I had an interesting conversa- 
tion with an intelligent merchant from a neighbor- 
ing village, who told me that goods which cost 
40 dollars to transport by water from New-York 



CANAL. 131 

to his village, a distance of 150 miles, would cost 
450 to convey by land to Whitehall, a distance of 
of 70 miles. This great deduction must render 
the goods proportionally cheap. 

The truth is, that as a canal extends in length, 
it embraces in a kind of geometrical ratio, a 
greater or wider extent of countrj^, and diffuses 
correspondent blessings. Every man residing 
within a day's journey of the canal, is for all use- 
ful purposes brought to that distance from Alba- 
ny, with the exception of the price of transporta- 
tion from the point of the canal which he touches 
to that city, and the time consumed in the convey- 
ance. 

When this work was first proposed to President 
Jefferson, in 1809, he pronounced it impracticable 
at the present time, and declared that it was a 
century too soon to make the attempt. Why this 
great misjudgment occurred to this great man, 
and to many <y*her wise men, must be imputed to 
their overlooking important facilities, and to thei;- 
indiscriminate application of past events to pre- 
sent times, withbut taking into consideration im- 
portant dissimilarities. A canal can be made 
with infinitely more facility in a region of secon- 
dary formation, than in one of primary. Granite, 
.ornite, gneiss, and mica slate, do not exist ex 
fcpt fortuitously, and the prevailing rocks present 



132 CANAL. 

no formidable obstacles to excavation. It is ui 
fact little more than a turnpike reversed, a work 
in concavity instead of convexity. The applica- 
tion of ingenious contrivances for the extrication 
of trees, and the processes of excavation, has 
never been dujy appreciated until submitted to 
the test of experiment. Nor was it anticipated 
that work could be carried on to great advantage 
In winter as well as summer. Besides the whole 
mystery of the expense and the failure of great 
public works, is the frauds aud mismangement of 
the agents. A judicious system conducted with 
integrity and industry places it in the power of 
an opulent state to accomplish any undertaking. 
In my opinion, this state will not only obtain 
indemnification, but will eventually derive a 
great revenue from the canal. In the hands of an 
able financier, a kind of impost, under the form 
of toils, will be laid on ascending goods, which 
will either produce an important revenue, or check 
the wasteful consumption of foreign merchandize; 
thus encouraging in the one case domestic manu- 
factures, and in the other enriching the treasury. 
This will be the exercise of a new power by the 
local governments. If the national government 
will not raise the tariff for the benefit of its own 
manufactures, the state government can elevate it 
sufficiently by tollsc 



CANAL. 133 

1 am happy to assure you, that the supply of 
water is ample, although J am persuaded that the 
leakage and evaporation are more than was anti- 
cipated. Distant cellars have been filled, and in 
some places the quick sands present a formidable 
appearance, but the progress of time will avert 
many evils now experienced. The holes and fis- 
sures in the can^I #ili be filled up, and the banks 
will become more solid. 

There are many contrivances in contemplation 
for the propulsion of boats. An ingenious me- 
clianician in New-York, has I see prepared an hy- 
draulic machine. Steam may be used successful- 
ly, but I am of opinion that horse power will be 
generally adopted. 

The advantages which will be constantly de- 
veloped by this great work, will undoubtedly be 
shaded by some inconveniences ; but these will 
be lost and extinguished in the immensity of good. 
And every citizen of this powerful state may ex- 
claim in relation to the greatest work of the age, 

" And thou shalt be our star of Aixady, 
Or Tyrian Cynosurt-," 

to all that can render a people opulent and pow- 
erfid, capable of dispensing and receiving bles- 
sings. 



G2 



134 IRISH ORATCRS, 



LETTER XXXIl. 

Utica, August 1, 1820o 

My Dear Sir, 

Ox\E of the modern poets has elegantly said, 

W -^■ 
" One small spot 

Where ray tired mind may rest and call it HojnG . 

There is a magic in tiiat little word : 

It is a mystic circle that surrounds 

Comforts and virtues never known beyond 

The hallowed limit." 

The same feelings which attract us to home. 
when absent, enhance the importance of our na- 
tive country when in foreign climes. Every- 
thing which relates to Ireland has now a double 
charm and a double interest in my estimation. 
I can stop and converse by the hour with the 
humblest laborer from my native land, and do 
not postpone my^attentions to inquire whether he 
is a Catholic or a Protestant, a Royalist or an 
Oppositionist. Even a panegyric on Castlereagh 
now sounds melodiously in my ears. 

With all these predilections I cannot shut my 
eyes against the false taste which has pervaded 
the Irish oratory, and which has extended to this 
country, Grattan, Curran, and Phillips, are con- 



IRISH ORATORS. 135 

sidered tl.e master spirits of modern eloquoiice. 
The works of the two latter are to be found \n 
every bookstore and every library : ibe^^ are 
read and admired, and admired and read by all 
reading men, women, and children, in America. 
Phillips — the orator of fustian and bombast has 
run through several editions. 

The real]}^ great orator of Ireland was Edmund 
Burke, a man of a rich mind, adorned with a 
luxuriant imagination — stored with various and 
profound knowledge — and embellished by a cor- 
rect and classical taste. His speeches at tbe com- 
mencement of the American revolution are models 
of genuine eloquence, and exemplars of political 
wisdom. 

After him came Grattan — the orator of epigram 
and antithesis. His eloquence was formed under 
the ascendancy of false taste. We admire the 
poignancy of his satire, the vehemence of his de- 
nunciations, the intrepidity of his demeanor, and 
the felicit}' of his language — but we soon become 
fatigued with his elaborate attempts, his involved 
sentences, and his quaint ideas. We turn aside 
Irom his condiments, and require substantial food 
for the mind. In attempting to condense like 
Tacitus, he has fallen into the conceits of Seneca. 

Next came Curran, a man of lofty intellect, 
but laboring still under the same fatal ascendaa- 



i30 IRISH ORATOHS. 

cy. He attempted to soar into the empyreai 
heights of oratory, but how often does he mistake 
bombast for subhmity — quaintness for energy — 
and the erratic flights of an undisciphned imagi- 
nation, for the most elevated effusions of the hu- 
man mind. 

Last comes Phillips — Phillips the Orator as he 
is called. O how I blush for my country — that 
such a brainless biped should be followed with 
acclamations, and covered with honors — Phillips, 
the prince of Dandy orators — whose " gaudy, 
gauzy, gossamery eloquence," full of glitter, bom- 
bast, froth, and fustian, is nauseating to good 
taste, and a disgusting exhibition of flowery non- 
sense. He is in eloquence what Hervey was in 
line writing — continually on stilts — continually 
straining after figures — pursuing conceits — and 
clothing puerile ideas in an embroidered phrase- 
ology. His oratory is without essence or sub- 
stance; it either sinks into dregs, orrises into 
lees. He is, among real orators, what a peacock 
is among birds — a beau among men. I do not 
however^ mean to deny him a fertile imagination, 
but It evaporates in frothy verbiage, and he comes 
directly within the censure of Quinctilian — " Sunt, 
qui neglecto rerum pondere et viribus sententia- 
rum, si vel inania verba in hos modos deprava- 
runt; summos se judicant artificegj ideoque uor 



LITERARY. 1 37 

desumunt eas nectere : quas sine sententia sectare,, 
tarn est ridiculum quam queerere habltum gestum- 

que sine corpore. Ubi vero, atroci- 

tate, invidia, miseratione pognandum est ; quis 
ferat verbis contrapositis et consimilibus, et pari- 
ter cadentibiis, irascentend, flentem, rogantem ?" 

If my national partialities are neither flattered 
nor increased by this rapid review, they certainly 
have great scope lor exultation, when T turn my 
G^es to my countryman Thomas Addis Emmet, 
who now ranks among the first advocates of the 
American Bar, and if in Ireland, would distance 
all competition. I have heard him, and heard 
him with perfect astonishment. He has an all- 
grasping mind, wliich can penetrate the most ab- 
struse, irradiate the most obscure, and compre- 
hend the most intricate and perplexed subjects. 
For compass of thought, for solidity of reasoning, 
for acuteness of investigation, for felicity of illus- 
tration, for energy of expression — he is without a 
rival. In private life, he is one of the most amia- 
ble and unobtrusive of men — -" In wit a man — sim- 
plicity a child." 

There is a great excitement in this country 
against the British Reviews for their strictures on 
the state of American learning, and yet these vitu- 
perative Reviews are to be found in every reading 
house ill this country. Jeffery is looked up to 



l; 



LITEBARY. 



with Idolatry, and the Quarterly Review is quo- 
ted as an oracle. Blackwoood's Magazine is in 
high request — the novels attributed to Walter 
Scott, renowned for a barbarous dialect, and a 
dull monotony, are notwithstanding classed with 
the productions of Fielding and Richardson, and 
all the modern poets, including Byron, Scott, 
Moore, Southey, Wordsworth, Coleridge, (.'rabbe, 
^c. are printed and reprinted, lauded and admi- 
red from Maine to Missouri. 

If America will not stand on its own legs, and 
rely on its own exertions, what can it expect but 
supercilious arrogance and contumelious assump- 
tion f Is there any thing so wonderful and so ter- 
rific in Scotch criticism — in ihe pen or the sneers 
of little Jefi'ery — or of Southey, or of Scotch bar- 
risters who set up for Quinctilians, or of English 
poetasters, who claim the highest honors of ge- 
nius ^ 

There is an American writer named Irving — 
an amiable man, of a fine pellucid mind, and who 
has distinguished himself by some amusing peri- 
odical works. He is greatly superior to any wri- 
ter in Blackwood's Magazine, and yet the suflrage 
of that Magazine in his favor, is quoted as the 
highest reward which can be conferred upon him. 

Why the American people will not bestow more 
encouragement on a vernacular literature, instead 



LITERARY TASTE- 



IS^ 



of running after exotic gew-gaws, I cannot divine. 
The North American Review is now conducted 
with more talent than either the Quarterly or 
Edinburgh. Dr. Silliman's periodical work on 
Natural Science is superior to, any thing of the 
kind published in Europe; and there are men of 
genius and of learning in every section of the 
country, who with adequate encouragement would 
redeem the American character from the obloquy 
of transatlantic insolence. 



LETTER XXXIII. 

Western Region, August, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

The beauties of an American sky are frequent- 
ly unparalleled, and there is a peculiar lustre in 
the appearance of the morning star, which I have 
never seen equalled in my native land. This pla- 
net, on account of its propinquity to the earth, is 
only exceeded in apparent size by the moon, and 
on this account, and its superior eflulgence, it has 
very naturally been a subject of poetical descrip- 
tion. It may relieve the monotony of my former 
communications to refer to some passages in the 
tnost distinguished poets on this subject. 



140 LITERARY TASTE. 

Homer in his fifth Iliad, in representing Dio- 
mede under the influence of Pallas, says, 

Fires on his helmet, and his shield around 
She kindled bright and steady as the star 
Autumnal, which in ocean newly bath'd 
Assumes fresh beauty. 

The same allusion also occurs in Horace — - 

Merses profundo, pulchrior eve nit> 

Virgil in his 8th Eneid, says — 

Qtialis ubi oceani perfu us Lucifer unda, 
Quern Venus ante alios astrorum diligit ignes. 
E&tulit OS sacrum caelo tenebrasque resolvit. 

Lastly comes Milton, who thus exclaims in his 
Lycidas :— 

So sinks the day star in the ocean bed, 

And yet anon repairs his drooping head, 

And tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore 

Flames in the forehead of the morning sky. 

if these extracts shall be considered as fair spe- 
cimens by which to compare poetic merit, in what 
an illustrious light does Milton appear ? 

A poet as well as an orator, in order to be truly 
great, ought to have a fertile imagination, undep 
the dominion of good taste. Those faults which 
result from undisciplined genius, are however 
more tolerable than those whieh spring from steri- 



LITERARY TASTE. 141 

lity ofmind. In one of my solitary walks, I stop- 
ped at a farm house for refreshment, and I acci- 
dentally found an old newspaper which contained 
an address, from a cidevant governor to a great 
military commander, on the presentation of a 
sword. The writer has evidently put his mind 
into a state of violent exertion, and in striving to 
be sublime and magnificent, has shown a total in* 
capacity in thought as well as language. In 
speaking of a nocturnal battle near the cataract 
of Niagara, he says that it produced a midnight 
, rainbow, whose refulgence outshone the iris of 
the day. 

This master-piece of the great orator and states- 
man who wrote it, can only be excelled by the 
poet quoted by Dryden, when he says — 

Now when the winter's keener breath began 
To chrystalize the Baltic oceanj 
To glaze the Lakes, to bridle up the floods, 
And periwig with saov/ the bald pate woods. 

Or perhaps it is exceeded by the following eu- 
logium of a country school-master on General 
Wolfe. 

Great General Wolfe without any fear?, 



Led on his brave grenadiers, 

And what is most miraculous and particular^ 

He cliaib'd up rocks that were perpendicular. 



342 LITERARY TASTE. 

And yet would yon believe that the man wUq 
pronounced that farrago of bombastic nonsense, 
has been a governor, a vice-president, and God 
knows what ; and that he is passed off as a para- 
gon of wisdom, and an exemplar of greatness. 
With intellect not more than sufficient to preside 
over the shop-board of a tailor, or to conduct tlie 
destinies of a village school, he has by the force 
of fortuitous circumstances attained to ephemeral 
consequence. D'Alembert has justly observed 
that " the apices of the loftiest pyramids in church 
and ^tate are only attained by eagles or reptiles.'^ 
The history of democracies continually exhibits 
tlie rise of pernicious demagogues warring against 
wisdom and virtue, philosophy and patriotism — 
but why do I con^ne this remark to any particu- 
lar form of government ? The spirit of the obser- 
vation will apply to human nature in all its forms 
and varieties. Even in the Augustan age of 
Great Britain, Elkanah Settle was set up as the 
rival of Dryden — and Stephen Duck was put in 
competition with Pope. This levelling princi- 
ple gratifies two unworthy feelings; it endeavors 
to mortif}^ the truly great by its flagrant injustice^ 
and it strives to lower them down to our own de- 
pression of insignificance. Posterity, however, 
will dispense justice with unerring hand, and with 
impartial distribution, and the great men who are 



GEOLOGY. 143 

almost always assailed by calumny, and who are 
sometimes borne down by ingratitude, may in con- 
sidering the benefits which they have rendered to 
the human race, confidently appeal to heaven for 
their reward, and to posterity (or their justifica- 
tion. 



LETTER XXXIV. 

Western Region, Avgusi, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

Although my luggage is small, yet I never 
travel without a blow-pipe, and some tests and re- 
agents. If in want cf any of the usual acids to 
detect the presence of lime, I substitute strong 
vinegar, which will generally produce an efferves- 
cence, when poured on a calcareous substance. 
If 1 am desirous of ascertaining the existence of 
an alkali, or an acid, I stain paper with the petals 
of a blue flower, and dip it in the water which is 
to be tried, and if it turn green, it indicates an al- 
kaline impregnation, and if red an acid one. If 
.silver becomes black when thrown into water, it 
denotes that sulphur is held in solution, and the 
presence of iron is demonstrated, if the inner bark 
©f oak give water a dark appearance. With 



144 GEOLOGY. 

these occasional substitutes I am enabled to sijI* • 
^lount to a certain extent, the want of a chemical 
apparatus, when I travel at a considerable dis» 
tance from my lodgings. With my slender ma- 
terials for investigation, I have, however, been 
been enabled to ascertain the great geological 
outlines of this region. The country about eight 
miles south of the Cayuga Bridge, and both east 
and west, is composed of argillaceous schist, or 
clay slate. To the north, the great lime stone 
ledge commences, which dips to the south, and 
which tbrms the dam of the Cayuga and the other 
minor lakes, and which wpholds Lake Erie. This 
great calcareous ledge is interspersed with all the 
species and varieties cf that substance, and with 
salt, sulphur, carburetted hydrogen, and bituminous 
springs — with gypsum, hydraulic lime stone, 
magnesian lime stone, fetid carbonate of lime, 
blue lime, shell lime, silicious lime, with nodules 
of flint, he. in stratified and scattered portions. 
And the substratum of the calcareous and schis- 
tous formations, is, as far as I can trace it, a com- 
pact sand stone, generally of a red color. 

I found tlie upper and middle stratum of the 
great cataract of Niagara to consist of fetid car- 
bonate of lime, commonly called stink stone, or 
swine stone ; and the inferior stratum of a com- 
pact, stratified red sand stone, which strikes fire 



GEOLOGr, 145 

with steel, scratches glass, and which, when moist- 
ened and rubbed, emits a smell of sulphuretted 
hydrogen gas. It is also infusible before the blow 
pipe, and -does not efiervesce with acids. The 
super strata, consisting of swine stone, are more 
strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen 
gas, and contain small quantities of martial py- 
rites, alumine and silica. This stone exists in 
various parts of this region, and is an indication 
of coal, so far forth as bitumen is concerned in its 
composition. 

The great coal beds of Ireland repose on lime 
stone, which is also intermingled with the coal 
mines of the region further west of this state ; and 
I have been told that at a place near Zanesville, 
'm the state of Ohio, a cellar was dug and walled, 
which furnished for its construction, sand stone 
for the wall, lime stone and sand for mortar, and 
a sufficiency of coal for calcinating the lime. 
Clay slate generally forms the roof of coal mines, 
and sand stone the floor. These different 
formations sometimes intermix with, and some- 
times underlay each other in this region, and they 
all point with an unerring hand to the existence 
of this all important substance of coal. 

The black shale which contains bitumen — the 
oil stones — the petroleum springs — all concur in 
corroborating this conclusion. Below the cek- 



146 GEOLOGY. 

brated petroleum wells, in the Burmha dominioii^, 
coal has been discovered. Indeed, it is supposed 
that the oil from these springs possesses all the 
properties of coal tar, and that nature elaborates 
for the Burmhas in the bowels of the earth that 
for which European nations are indebted to the 
ingenuity of Lord Dundonald. A considerable 
spring of petroleum exists at Colebrook Dale, in 
England. At some distance below, coal is found 
of an excellent quality. Cleveland, in his cele- 
brated work on Mineralogy, supposes that naptha 
and petroleum may very probably arise from the 
decomposition of coal, etiected by subterraneous 
fires, either volcanic, or produced by the combus- 
tion of coal, or the decomposition of pyrites. 

I have perhaps fatigued you with my lucubra- 
tions on coal. When I consider the importance 
of this mineral — its auspicious influence on the 
production of the great fabrics of art, and on the 
comfort and support of the human race ; and 
when i am convinced that nothing but observa- 
tion and exertion are necessary to eifect the dis- 
covery of this precious mineral, I cannot think my 
time misspent in drawing your attention to it. 
The state ought to offer a magnificent reward for 
the discovery. 



WHEAT, 



147 



LETTER XXXV. 

Western Begion, August, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

I riND that my letters have unexpectedly at- 
tracted so much attention, that I consider it ex- 
pedient not only to change the place of my resi- 
dence, but to conceal it under some general de- 
nomination. In passing along the main street of 
Canandaigua I overheard some boys say — there 
goes Hihei'nicus, and I assure 3'ou that my diffi- 
dence took the alarm, and I soon resumed my er- 
ratic life. I am now one of the nomades, without 
any fixed habitation, wandering from place to 
place, and collecting new ideas and feelings 
wherever they are to be found. 

In the district of country called Rome, a spe- 
cies of wheat, or triticum, was shown to me as in- 
digenous. The novelty of the idea pleased me 
so much, that I pursued the discovery through all 
its labyrinths and ramifications. 

Some years ago, it was discovered in a wet soil 
and in a beaver meadow, near Western, and also 
in a swamp covered with woods, near Rome. Its 
stalls is more compact, and its leaves larger, than 
that of the common wheat, Its height is also 



148 WHEAT. 

greater, and except having short beards at tiic 
apex, it is in other respects bald. It is said to re- 
sist the power of frost, and to be proof against 
winter kiUing. 

Is this wheat indigenous, or was it imported 
and accidentally conveyed to the places where it 
is found ? 

If the latter, why is not wheat found growing 
wild in more cultivated parts of the country ? I 
am persuaded that it is an indigenous plant ; and 
if so, it may be considered one of the greatest dis- 
coveries of the age. Tt is the vegetable destined 
by nature for this climate, and it casts light upon 
the natural history of the most important of the 
cerealia which has hitherto been enveloped in ob- 
scurity. 

Wheat grows in the old world from Egypt to 
Siberia, upwards of 30 degrees of latitude. Pen- 
nant says that Vv'heat will ripen as high as latitude 
62 north, but so uncertain is the crop throughout 
Sweden, that it is called the seed of repentance. 
A species of wheat which is called Siberian, and 
which has been found growing wild in that coun- 
try, ripens in a latitude still more north than that 
laid down by Pennant. Kaimes observes, that — 
" Writers upon Natural History have been solici- 
tous to discover the original climate of wheat, rice, 
barley, &c. (which must; from the creation, have 



^VHEA'I. 149 

.^■i*owa gpoiilarieously) bat vvitliout much success. 
The original climate of plants left to nature can- 
not be a secret, but in countries well peopled, the 
plants mentioned are not left to nature — the seeds 
are carefully gathered and stored up for food. 
As this practice could not fail to make these seeds 
rare, agriculture was early thought of, which by 
introducing plants into new soils and new cli- 
mates, has rendered the original climate obscure. 
ff we can trace that climate it vziist he iti regions 
destitute of inhabitants, or hut thinly peopled. 
Anson found in the island Juan Fernandez many 
spots of ground covered with oats. While the 
French possessed Fort Dauphin, in the island of 
Madagascar, they raised excellent wheat. That 
station was deserted many j-ears ago, and wheat 
to this day grows naturally among the grass in 
great vigor. In the country about Mount Tabor, 
in Palestine, barley and oats grow spontaneously. 
In the kingdom of Siam, there are many spots 
where rice grows year after year without any cul- 
ture. Diodorus Siculus is our authority for say° 
ing, that in the territory of Leontinum and in 
other j)laces of Sicily, wheat grew wild without 
any culture. And it does so at present about 
Mount Etna." Diodorus Siculus also says that 
Isis was the discoverer of wheat and barley, and 

that Osiris taught the manner of cultivatioD, 
H 



150 WHEAT. 

And according to Berosus, Mesopotamia aboun- 
ded widi wild wheat aiiicngst the other indigenous 
plants. 

Tibullus says of Osiris — 

Primus aratra manu solertl fecit Osirl:^ 
Et teneram ferro sollicitavit huimiin. 

And Ovid thus speaks of Ceres : 

Prima Ceres unco terram dimovit aratro 
Prima dedit leges. 

Why should not wheat grow spontaneously in 
New-York as well as in Sicily, Egypt, Mesopota- 
mia, or Siberia? And the evidence of the fact is 
as complete in this particular as the nature of the 
case will admit. The plant was found in a wild 
state in places remote from thick settlement, which 
had never been cultivated, and it possesses pe- 
culiar characteristics, and distinctive qualities. 
Besides rye is found in a wild state, and it was 
frequently seen growing spontaneously before the 
settlement of the country. Lt. Governor Mercer, 
of Virginia, thus writes of this plant, a long time 
before the revolutionary war : — " The wild rye 
which grows every where in the Ohio country, is 
a species of the rye which is cultivated by the Eu- 
ropeans. It has the same bearded ear, and pro- 
duces a farinaceous grain. The ear and grain in 



COAL. 151 

ihe wild st7dG of lliis plant are less, and the beard 
of the ear is longer, than those of the cultivated 
rye, which makes this wild plant resemble more 
the rye grass in its appearance ; bnt it differs in 
no other respect from the rye, and it shoots its 
spontaneous vegetation about the middle of No- 
vember, as the cultivated rye doth." 

As the indigenous existence of rye in tlsis coun- 
try is established beyond question, there can be 
no good reason to doubt the growth of wheat. 
This curious fact in Natural History, ought to be 
fnlly investigated and illustrated. 



LETTER XXXVI. 

Western Eegion, August^ 3 620, 
My dear Sir, 

When I consider that without coal there can be 
no stable manufactures^that without manufac- 
tures there can be no flourishing internal trade — 
and that without internal trade, there can be no 
elevation of national prosperity — I trust, nay, 1 
am sure that you will excuse me for drawing 
your attention once more to this important sub- 
ject 



152 loa£. 

The rocks of the west are sand stone. 

slate, 

lime, 

gypsum, and 

salt, 
and they are all the companions of coal. But I 
shall waive theoretical considerations, and shall 
now point out such places where I am persuaded 
ooal may be found. 

The ravines or glens of the country formed by 
streams are the best places lor geological observa- 
tions, and for viewing the indications of coal, and 
other minerals. The country from Ithaca north 
is a region of argillaceous schist. Near the for- 
mer place there is a beautiful cascade tumbling 
tlown the eastern hills 60 feet high through a 
Cimmerian glen over clay slate, which alternates 
with a thin stratum of lime stone that reposes on 
a similar schist. There is a profound gulf at this 
cascade, and the tout ensemble points to the exis- 
tence of coal. This place would be a good 
venue for a romance. 

At Ludlowville, 10 miles from Ithaca, the banks 
of Salmon Creek are 200 feet high, and very pre- 
cipitous. The rocks are principally clay slate, 
and there are strata of blue lime stone half way 
up. 



COAL. 153 

Further north, the whole of the town of Scipio 
is underlaid with clay slate, which is invariably 
found in digging for wells at the depth of 15 or 
20 feet. Tisis substance forms tlie roof of coal 
mines. 

The formation of the Onondaga country is 
very singular. High hills — profound vallies like 
the arms of lakes. Onondaga Hollow is a beau- 
tiful valley surrounded by elevated hills which af- 
ford a most picturesque view. At the foot of these 
hills, and in the glens created by the streams pas- 
sing into the valley, search may be successfully 
made for coal, and it may sometimes appear in 
out-bursts. 

There is a blackish shale at Jamesviile, west of 
Manlius square, and on the hills east of tlie latter 
place, and between it and Chitteningo there are 
strong indices of coal, and particularly on a hill 
between Cazenovia and Manlius, where there is 
much shivery slate. 

The whole of this interesting region is full of 
gypsum, and wherever there is gypsum, there are 
salt and coal. In Manlius, gypsum is ahvays 
found at least at the depth of 15 feet. In digging 
a well 72 ieet, gj-psnm was discovered 15 feet 
from the surface, 46 feet in thickness. 

The shores of lakes and the falls of streams, 
frequently exhibit the evidences of coal brcuj^. t 



■J 54 COAL. 

and collected by the agency of water. I have 
seen on the bank of the Owasco and Otlsco lakes, 
black shale, which is found rounded aad abraded 
by the waves. 

At Little Fall Creek, a mile south of the village- 
of Geneseo, there is a vertical section of 115 feet 
through rocks. The super stratum is slate, repo- 
sing Oil liraestone, which is again supported by 
schist. Here are evident symptoms of coal, and 
liere it may be certaijily obtained. 

The black mould on the Genesee river is deri- 
ved in all probability froni. the trituration, or de- 
composition of slate, im.pregnated by bitumen, al- 
though some give it a vegetable origin. 

At Allen's Creek, in Le Roy, there is a vertical 
section. The upper stratum is clay slate, which 
the water has worn away to the lime stone, and 
which reposes on bituminous slate that smells ex- 
actly like Seneca Oil. The same slate is found 
at Batavia in detached pieces, brought by the 
Tonawanta Creek from a distance. The country 
west of the Genesee river is composed of three 
terraces, like the Steppes of Tartary, which in- 
cline gently to the north. At the feet of these ter- 
races, search ought to be made.. 

I think, my dear sir, that [ have indicated a 
sufliclent number of places, where 

■■' Strble c&al lis massv conch extends.' 



NATURAL HISTORY. 155 

When the usual indices of this mineral appear, 
ihe augur ougiit to be applied ; and I earnestly 
recommend voluntary associations of opulent and 
observing men, for the discovery of coal. A 
fruitful mine within 30 miles of the Great Cana 
will be the nucleus of immense wealth. 



LETTER XXXVII. 

Western Region, Avgusi^ 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

The Systema Natunie of Linnaeus has been 
eloquently described as "the Bible of Nature, the 
great nomenclature of natural science ; w here 
every generic character is a family portraiture, 
and every specific description a miniature; and 
where, b}^ a few simple appropriate terms, the 
image of every distinct object on the globe we in- 
habit is reflected on the mind and the memory;*' 
and Dr. Johnson has justly observed that " the 
stream of time, which is continually washing 
away the dissoluble fabrics of other systems, pas- 
ses without injury by the adamant of Linr.e." 
The object of Linnaeus was to simplify natural 
science by systematic arrangement, methodical 
classiri. At'on, and compreliensive description. 
His classes, orders, geuera, specie?, and varieties, 



io6 2^ATUB.AL HISTOllY. 

were admirably adapted for this purpose. Tukr 
two tirst are arbitrary, and the three last founded 
on nature. This system, when it came out of the 
iiands of its great architect was recommended by 
its simplicity, and by its tendency to facilitate 
the acquisition of knowledge. In the progress of 
time it has become corrupted by the interpola- 
tions and sophistications of inferior workmen* 
who have destroyed its beaut}', deranged its sym- 
metry, and undermined its strength. The multi- 
plication of terms, the augmentation of synony- 
mes, the creation of new genera, and the fabrica- 
tion of new species, have overloaded the science 
with an Egyptian burden cf terminology. Phi- 
losophy has been transferred from things to words, 
and the inventor_pf a new term, or of a specific 
or generic difference where none exists, has been 
absurdly considered as entitled to the honors of 
an important discovery. A new race of natural- 
ists have started up, who confine their attention 
solely to verbal description, and who entirely 
overlook the habitudes and manners of animals, 
and the uses and characters of other organic 
beings, and of inorganic matter. The splitting 
Lip of genera, and the subdivision of species occu- 
py their exclusive attention ; and if the^' can ^nd 
a new name for an old thing, or feign imaginary 
differences; then they fancy thcmse]\es great phi- 



NATURAL HISTORY. I'O^ 

lusophers, and figure away as men of original ge- 
nius. This preposterous conversion of varieties 
into species, and of species into genera, has pro- 
duced infinite injury to the progress of real know- 
ledge, and has barricaded the approach to the 
temple of science by a fortification of hard words. 
Sciolists of this description hold the same rank 
in natural science, that special pleaders do in law, 
and scholastics in philosophy. I have discovered 
a new genus in botany, exclaims one of these pre- 
tenders. What, a new plant ! no, but that a 
plant well known and often described as of the 
some generic character, can be distinguished, in 
its different appearances, by certain discrepan- 
ces, which authorise a new discrimination of no- 
menclature. The truth is, that all these great 
discoveries are nominal, not real; and are found- 
ed on fortuitous, not natural circumstances. I 
liave seen a white deer — a white moose — and a 
white squirrel. Would it not be entirely ridicu- 
lous to arrange these accidental varieties into 
new species ^ The natural color of the jackall 
is yellow : — Suppose that the prairie wolf resem- 
bles that animal in all other respects, would we 
hesitate to pronounce it a jackall ? Look at the 
aiineralogical synonymes of Allan, and you v/ill 
see the infinite difficulties which a student of 

niineralogy has to encounter. Let us take a 
II 2 



158 NATURAL HISTORY. 

word well known to every one, gypsum, i^r 
instance, and besides its appropriate name, sul- 
phate of lime, it is called vitriol of lime, calcareous 
\itriol, selenitCy plaster of Paris, vitrum mnsco- 
vitura, celestine, he. And tiie vegetable alkali^ 
known by the common appellation of potash, is 
termed carbonate of potash, alkahest, nitre fixed 
by itself, fixed salt of tartar, vegetable fixed alkali, 
aerated vegetable fixed alkali, crctacious tartar, 
mepbitic tartar, mephite of potash, he. Who is 
not frightened vvh^n he approaches a science sur- 
charged with such multitudinous and barbarous 
terms ? Botany is equally, if not more perplex- 
ing. Besides the Linnsean system of vegetables^, 
we are confounded by the natural orders of Jus- 
sieu. In zoology, there are many systems besides 
that of Linngeus, and the nomenclature is intricate,, 
perplexed, and various. With all these disad- 
vantages, there is, however, no knowledge more 
captivating, more useful, and mere dignified than 
the science of nature. 

In my tour through the countr}^ I have seea 
many organic beings, which have either been 
imperfectly described, or not described at all — - 
particularly in the department of ichthyology • 
and I sliall probably draw your attention to some 
objects of this nature, of considerable interest. 
In making this attempt, I shall endeavor to unite 



GANAL. 159 

an accurate description of the form of the animaJ, 
with some account of its mores and properties— 
and I shall keep out of view as much as possible 
a technology which frequently bewilders, and a 
minuteness which always disgusts 



LETTER XXXVIIL 

Utica, August, 1 820. 
My Dear Sir, 

Mr. Robert Fulton, the inventor of steam 
boats, and the greatest mechanician of the age, 
estimated, from the licences granted at the cus- 
tom house, that 400,000 tons of commodities are 
annually transported on the waters of the Hudson ; 
and from a comparison between the country 
trading on that river, with the territory embraced 
by the western canal, he supposed that one million 
ot tons would be conveyed every year on the lat- 
ter. A toll of 50 cents a barrel, or 25 cents a 
hundred, on commodities, would amount on a 
ton from Buffalo to Albany to five dollars, and 
would thus produce the enormous income of five 
millions of dollars annually. 

The only doors of escape from this conclusion, 
must be one^ or the other of these positions :— 



160 CANAL. 

EitheF that the toll would be too high, or tha* 
the tonnage is over estimated. 

That this toll would not be oppressive, must 
be evident from the following considerations : 

1. The expense of transporting a ton of goods 
from Albany to Buffalo, by land, is $100. 

2. The toll lately paid for passing a ton of goods 
through the locks of the Western Inland Lock Na- 
vigation Company was five dollars and twenty-five 
cents, besides a considerable duty upon the vessel; 
and this onl}^ for a distance of 10 miles. 

3. Mr. Fulton estimated the expense of trans- 
portation on a canal, one cent a ton per mile, ex- 
clusive of tolls — the expense of conveying a ton 
from Buffalo to Albany will amount to $8 53, but 
if we average it at two cents a mile, it would only 
exceed by three cents twelve dollars, a very 
inconsiderable expense, when compared with 
the cost of other, modes of transportation. 

That upwards of 400,000 tons are annually 
conveyed on the Hudson river cannot be denied. 
The region comprehended in this trade, will be 
|n population and extent to the territory embra- 
ced in the trade of the western and northern 
canals, as one is to twenty — but to reduce the 
ratio to the moderate computation of one to two 
and an half, and then the million of tons will bo 
made out 



CANAL. 



I6t 



The (banning extract from a Kentucky paper 
will throw great light on the sai>ject : 

Louisville, Ky. Aug. 5, 

" Western navigation. — We have enumerated a 
list of seventy-three steam boats belonging to the 
western navigation, 5u\y 27, 1820. Several 
others are on the stocks above the falls of the 
Ohio, and two in New-Orleans. There are also 
several team boats in operation. 

The list of vessels will afford our distant sub- 
scribers a pretty correct idea of the extent and 
importance of the steam boat navigation of the 
western country, which must continue to increase 
with every succeeding year. Estimating the 
freight actually carried by each boat, at 150 tons 
on average, and that each will make three voya- 
ges a year, the imports to various parts of the 
western states will be found to amount to 33,300 
tons, and the export in steam boats will exceed 
that amount, while those that are made in 
the usual way, (in flat boats or arks) will 
more than double that amount. Thus our exports 
may be said to be about 100,000 tons. 

Freights are nov*^ from 1 1-2 to 2 cents from 
New-Orleans to this place. The average price, 
buwever, may be stated at 2 cents per pound on 
articles imported from New-Orleans. The amount 
paid for freight on imports annually, is now some- 



]62 



CANAL. 



thing like $1,332,000 to stenm boats; the ex- 
ports, in the same description of vessels, may be 
estimated at §666,000 ; passengers up and down, 
calculating ten to a vessel, at 100 dollars up and 
50 down, amount to about 333,000 dollars. 
IMaking the annual amount paid for freights in 
steam boats, about §1,998,000 

For passengers in do. 333,000 



$2,331,000 
To this sum an addition of §500,000, 
at least, may be made, on account 
of a great number of voyages per- 
formed by vessels employed exclu- 
sively in the lower country in car- 
rying sugar, cotton, he. to New- 
Orleans, he. he. 500,000 



Total, §2,831,000 
Of the value of our imports and exports, no 
correct estimate can be formed ; nor are we able 
to ascertain how many persons are actually em- 
ployed in the steam boat navigation of the west- 
ern country." 

From this statement it is pretty manifest that 
the exports and imports of the western states by 
the Mississippi to New-Orleans, do not fall far 
short of 150,000 tons annually. The westera 
canal will not only intercept a considerable por- 



GAXAL. 103 

tion of this trade, but will greatly increase it in 
the direction of New-York, for these, among other 
reasons. 

1. The climate of New-Orleans is hostile to 
the great products of the west — wheat, flour, and 
meats, are ruined by it. 

2. The European market is the only one in 
wliich any permanent reliance can be reposed for 
the consumption of the staples of the west, and 
New-York is twenty days' sail nearer to this 
market than New-Orleans. 

3. The insalubrity of New-Orleans is great, and 
a healthy will always be preferred to an unhealthy 
market. 

4. The enormous expense of steam boats, and 
the delays of ascending navigation, will alwavs 
make transportation more costly, more dilatory, 
and more exposed to loss and danger by the 
New-Orleans than by the New-York route. 

5. When the contemplated canal from Lake 
Erie to the Ohio river is completed, almost all 
the commerce of the west will follow the track of 
the Western Canal. 

6. The New-Orleans market furnishes an in- 
different supply of foreign merchandize. New- 
York is the great emporium of foreign commerce. 
There the country trader can obtain his goods 
cheap, on better credit, and with a greater ex- 
panse of selection. 



104 ^ CANAL. 

7. The trader always prefers to buy where he* 
3eils. The reasons are obvious — he saves time 
— he avoids expense. 

If the ascendi!]^ commodities conveyed from 
New-Orleans, and descending commodities con- 
veyed down the ^lississippi to that place, amount 
at the present time to 150,000 tons annual'}, it 
is not unreasonable to estimate those transported 
on the Great Canal, as soon as it is finished, at 
500,000 tons, Wlien we consider that the region 
west of Buffalo will obtain all its foreign goods 
through that medium, and also a considerable por- 
tion of its salt ; and when we contemplate the 
abundance and variety of its products, and take 
into view the opulence, the population, the vast 
resources and immense consumption of the terri- 
tory in the line of the canal, we cannot withhold 
our faith from Mr. Fulton's estimate. 

Our experience on the middle section of the 
canal this year, cannot afford any fair standard of 
calculation with respect to the future productive- 
ness of its revenue. I should not be surprised, if 
the remainder of the season is not uncommonly 
cold, that 40 or 50.000 tons will be transported 
on it. Every year will add to its amount, and 
every advance to tiie east or to the west, will 
extend its benefits and increase its usefulne??. 



FISHES. 



.65 



LETTER XXXIX. 

Western Region^ August, 1820. 
Ali^ Dear Sir, 

The white fish is the most delicious Mi which 
swims in the western waters ; it is found in Lake 
Ontario, and in all the other lakes to the north 
and west ^s far as the fur merchant has extended 
his researches. 

It appears to partake of the salmo and the cla- 
pea, and it unites the delicious taste of the shad 
and the common salmon. Dr. Mitchell has very 
judiciously named it salmo clupea formis. 

It is of the abdominal order. The first dorsal 
fin is directly above the ventral, and is twelve 
rayed. The second is adipose, and is placed 
above the anal fin some distance from the caudal, 
which last is furcated. The lateral line is straight, 
waving lines cross it longitudinally the whole 
breadth of the fish until the lower part of the ab- 
domen ; the belly is carinate ; the back convex, 
and the head sloping. The mouth is even and 
wide, with teeth ; colour more silvery than that of 
a shad ; scales large ; size generally from three 
to six pounds, and it has been known to wei^h 
ten pounds. 



This fish remanis in the lakes all the year. It 
spawns in spring and autumn ; is very numerous ; 
and the surface of the Cayuga Lake is sometimes 
rippled with it to a great distance. It inhabits the 
Canandaigua, and probably all the parallel lakes. 
In the straits of Detroit, and at the falls of St. 
Mary, it is caught in great numbers, and put up 
in salt for exportation. 

My description of it may be somewhat inaccu- 
rate, as I saw it only in salt. It has never been 
found in the eastern waters, and such is its cliipea 
shape, that it is considered a shad by many of the 
inhabitants. 

A species of clupea, or herring is also found in 
the lakes, which has been considered a young 
white fish. Its vulgar name is sisco, and it is a 
non-descript. 

Its length is near twelve inches, and it is about 
two and a half inches in breadth ; of the abdo- 
minal order ; first dorsal fin has ten rays, and is 
over the ventral. The second dorsal fin rayless 
and adipose over the anal, and near the tail ; tail 
forked ; scales glittering like silver, and small ; 
lateral line scarcely visible ; back rising into con- 
siderable convexity, and sloping to the head ; 
belly carinatc ; no teeth in jaws but in tonc^ucj 
weight generally seven ounces. 



i shall name this fish clupea Bartonia, in honor 
of that great naturalist, Dr. Barton, formerly of 
Philadelphia,' and whose death is an irreparable 
loss to the cause of science. 

Several thousand barrels oftliis herring are 
salted for the use of the interior country, at $8 
per barrel. It has expelled the salt water herring 
from the market of the west. 

The salmo salar, or common salmon, is found 
in Lake Ontario, and some of the secondary lakes 
which communicate with it, but in none of the 
waters above the Falls of Niagara, it is too well 
known to need description. 

This fish, it is said, is caught all the year in 
the lakes ; perhaps some of them remain without 
ever returning to the ocean. They have never 
been observed at Ogdensburgh. May they not 
be deterred by the porpoises at Quebec from 
descending ? The received opinion is, that they 
are naturalized to the lakes, and stay all the year. 
Trout in ponds rmi up into streams to spawi-;. 
Fishes in lakes ascend the rivers which supply the 
lakes, for the same purpose, and in like manner 
they proceed from the ocean. This is probably 
for a two fold object; for the safety of their young 
in shallow waters, and for food. The salmon of 
]>ake Ontario go up the great Salmon river in 
/^'igust, and return in September. In some other 



168 riSHES. 

places they ascend twice a year and spawn. Iq 
Chaniplain river there is no dam for seven miles, 
and salmon go in about the middle of April, and 
are good till the first of June. The Little Sable 
river has plent}', and also the Great Sable, because 
there are no mill dams. The Saranac river at 
Plattsburgh is a rapid stream, and its bottom is 
sandy and stony. Formerly it contained so ma- 
ny salmon, that laborers, when about to be hired, 
would stipulate they should not have it too often ; 
and the only danger in passing the ford, before 
the erection of a bridge, proceeded from the dart- 
ing of the salmon through the water and frighten- 
ing the horses. A mill dam was erected on it 
close to the head of the bay, and the salmon endea- 
vored, for a number of years, to ascend, but fail- 
ing, they have abandoned the ground. This fish 
does not ascend the Champlain Lake above 
Ticonderoga. 

Salmon have been caught in the Oneida Lak<?, 
and Lake Champlain, by the hook. Some of 
the lakes and ponds are filled in July, August and 
September, with the ova and teguments of aqua- 
tic insects, which substances go under the name 
of lake blossom. The ova are hatched on the 
surface of the water, and the winged insect flut- 
ters u short time in the air during the process of 
ejecting the ova, after which it perishes in a shor- 



V 



FISHES, J69 

tune. During this state of these insects, the sal- 
mon and other fishes fare luxuriously and disdain 
the hook. In July the salmon of some of the 
small lakes are greatly annoyed by aquatic insects 
which fix on the gills and fins, and eat the latter 
30 that the fish can hardly swim. It is supposed 
by some, that they go up into the creeks to get 
rid of this annoyance. The salmon has small, 
short teeth, and is undoubtedly carnivorous. When 
most assailed by vermin, it is the fattest. The 
greatest weight 48 pounds. 



LETTER XL. 

Western Region, August, 1820, 
My Dear Sir, 

The black, or Oswego basse, stands at the 
head of the perch family of this country, for deli- 
cacy of flavour. He is eagerly sought for by 
Epicurean avidity, and when he is properly pre- 
pared for the table, he is as much prized by the 
American gourmand, as the green turtle is by a 
London alderman. 

This fish is of the perca genus, and thiracie or- 
der, although the ventral is in strictness not di- 
rectly under the pectoral fin, yet I place him in 



170 FISHES. 

tills order as has been done in several oilier in- 
stances of a similar nature. 

He has two dorsal fins ; the first is spinous and 
. formed ot^ eight rays; second over the anal; tail 
furcated considerable distance from anal fin ; 
head leathery ; skin blackish and tough ; under 
lip juts out a little beyond the upper; mouth re- 
markably wide ; belly carmated ; blackish color 
in body, tail, head, and fins ; belly ligliter on 
both sides ; teeth in both jaws ; the outer circle 
of the eye golden colour. 

This fish inhabits almost all the western and 
northern waters. He is called black on account 
of his colour; — Oswego, because he was first par- 
ticularly noticed at that place ; and basse is a 
Dutch word corresponding with perch. He is a 
non-descript, and as I think his good qualities 
entitle liini to a distinguished name, I have thought 
proper to call him Perca Frankliniaj in honor of 
Dr. Franklin. 

This fish appears the latter end of June, and 
stays till the cold weather in October and No- 
vember. He is caught with the hook, and in 
trolling bites with avidity at a red rag. He 
is armed with strong teeth, and is predaceous. 
He Is considered very large if he weighs six 
pounds, but in Lake George he has been known 
to reach seven and a half pounds. He makes bis 



FISHES. 171 

bed ill shallow water, on tlie margin of deep wa- 
ter, by scooping the sand in the shape of a circle, 
dt-ep at the centre, and sloping gradually from the 
periphery. In the centre tlie ova are deposited in 
Ijine sand, and as you glide over the waters of the 
Lake, you can see the fish in the circle, incum= 
bent sometimes over the ova, and at other times 
darting with fury, and driving off all strange fish 
that approach its nest. The power of parental 
affection is manifest in this case, and the storge 
prevails in fish as well as in all other animals, as 
long as it is necessary to be exercised for the pre- 
servation of the young. The eggs it is necessary 
to defend, but the fry can escape into shallow 
water. This fish spawns in June ; its offspring 
are numerous. I have caught him with the com- 
mon angle worm ; when he strikes the hook he 
vaults up, and if pulled with too much violence, 
the ligament of the under jaw is broken, and he 
escapes. When he springs from the hook, he 
shakes his head to extricate his mouth ; and he 
should therefore be drawn up with all possible ex- 
pedition ; and if unsuccessful in that way, he will 
run off with such violence, as sometimes to break 
the strongest hair line. This fish formerly 
abounded in Lake George, where he exercised 
dominion without a rival, there being no pike to 
contest his ascendancy , but in late years he is 



172 yisHEs. 

said to diminish in number, and to have retired 
towards the foot of the lake, and that scarcity is 
observed in all the other fishes, and is imputed tc 
the erection of so many saw mills, and to the 
burning of the pine forests on tiie mountains, 
which it is supposed frightens the fish into deep 
water. The waters of Lake George are, 1 am 
told, impregnated with lake blossom in June and 
July. This is undoubtedly the ova and exuviae 
of aquatic insects, from which fish derive at cer- 
tain seasons their principal subsistence. How- 
easy to mistake for this food the saw dust which 
is unquestionably the principal cause of the de- 
struction of fish, although undoubtedly the in- 
creased angling has had a tendency to thin their 
numbers, or to terrify them from the hook. This 
fish is excellent for the three first weeks in August, 
when it retires to the shallow waters, and feeds 
on grass and snails. He is prepared for the 
table by frying and boiling. Before frying it is 
best to skin him ; and when boiled, let him be 
thrown into hot water, and ten minutes are then 
sufiicient for this operation. 

It appears not only in this case, but in that of 
many others, that fishes disappear for more than 
half of the year. To what place do they retire .'' 
From Lake George there is no escape into other 
waters. They must go into the deep waters. 



UATTLE SNAKES. llo 

And are they there in a slate of torpidity ? Pro- 
bably not all the time. In those deep, and 
almost unfathomable recesses, they probably find 
appropriate food, and when the power of propa- 
gation is set into operation, they emerge from the 
great deeps of the lake, to enjoy the genial influ- 
ence of the sun, and to afford food and security 
for their offspring. 



LETTER XLI. 

Western Region, August j 1820o 
My Dear Sir, 

I HAVE had an opportunity of seeing the rattle 
snake, a serpent peculiar to America, and whose 
natural history is greatly involved in fable and 
mj'Stery. Its venomous qualities have been some- 
what exaggerated, and the antidotes against its 

I poison have been much misrepresented. It has a 
brown, broad head ; the jaws are furnished with 
small, sharp teeth ; four fangs in the upper jaw, 

( incurvated, large, and pointed ; at the base of 
each, a round orifice opening into a cavity, that 
near the end of the tooth appears again in foriji 
of a small channel ; these teeth may be erected 
or compressed. When in the act of biting, they 
force out of a gland near their roots, the fatal 



174 RATTLE SNAKES. 

juice ; this is received into the round orifice of 
the teeth, conveyed through the tube into the 
channel, and thence with unerring direction into 
the wound. 

Appended to the tail is a crepitaculum or rattle, 
a crustaceous substance composed of joints loose- 
ly connected ; each distinct joint, or compartment, 
denotes a year of the life of the animal, and the 
number of joints indicates its age, after the third 
year, but according to some observers, after the 
second, and in the opinion of others, after the 
iirst year. Linnseus has arranged the crotalus 
genus under four species, and his specific differ- 
ences consist in the number of plates of the belly 
and tail. The crotalus horridus, or common rat- 
tle snake, has, he says, 167 plates on the belly, 
and 23 belonging to the tail. In the common 
acceptation of the country, there are but two 
kinds ; upland, which is large, and a small kind, 
which inhabits swamps. It was denominated by 
Nieremberg, an old author, domina serpentum. 

The one I saw was caught near the cataract of 
Niagara. Charlevoix observed in his tour to the 
west, a great number in the vicinity of this cele- 
brated place. They are said to have a den in a 
forest a few miles off, and there is also another 
den about 15 miles east of Lewiston, near the 
causeway. A small island near Grand Island, io. 



BATTLE SNAKES. 175 

the Niagara river, was called Rattle Snake Island, 
from the niraiber which it formerly contained. 
Twenty-five were killed on it in one day, and 
#ione are now to be found there. 

It is generally believed that they are devoured 
by hogs with impunity and with avidity; this is 
confidently denied ; and again it is- said that deer 
kill them by springing on them with collected 
feet. It is certain whatever may be the fact in 
these cases, that they disappear before popula- 
tion. 

Venomous and dangerous as this animal is, yet 
a lady of fortune from Carolina carried about 
one as a pet. In the house where she boarded in 
New-York, her fellow lodgers were much alarmed 
one evening by observing several young rattle 
snakes about the rooms. It appears that they 
had escaped through the holes of the case where 
the mother was confined, and where she had 
brought forth her young. 

I believe that all venomous serpents come un- 
der the description of oviviviparous ; that is, that 
the ova are hatched internally. A rattle snake 
was recently killed near the western canal, which 
had thirty eggs in it. This shows that they may 
have thirty young, although the general impres- 
sion is, that their offspring cannot exceed twelve 
at one time. It is believed by many that the 



]76 31ATTLE SNAKES. 

3'oung retreat for security into the body of the 
mother, although tliis is confidently contradic- 
ted, as well in this case as in the case of the viper. 
That both are viviparous is certain. 

Round Lake George, on the mountains, there 
are said to be at least 100 dens. There is one 
eight miles down the lake on East Mountain, and 
there are five others two miles from the head of 
the lake. There are two great dens within six 
miles of Ticonderoga — one at Rogers' rock, four 
miles from the foot of the lake ; and the other 
about three miles off, on the east side of the lake. 
These snakes generally select a south eastern or 
sunny ravine on a mountain, for their hybernacu- 
la. They descend deep into the cavities of rocks, 
and look out for a position at the head of springs. 
The vulgar believe that they will nat bite in the 
spring until they have tasted water, and that they 
have a king distinguished by a carbuncle, and 
•' which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears ^ 
a precious jewel in his head." This serpent fi*e-| 
quently swims across lakes and rivers. Several! 
persons dug for a den on the side of a mountain 
near Lake George, and after digging 15 feet they 
were arrested in their pursuit by a great rock, un- 
der which there were two holes large enough for 
a man to enter, from which ascended volumes of, 
noxious exhalations, that were attributed to col- 



RATTLE SNAKEri. 177 

lections of snakes coiled together. They are 
eagerly sought after for their oil and gall, which 
are used in sprains and rheumatisms ; and for 
their flesh, which has been applied in consump- 
tions J and they are frequently destroyed by fires 
made accidentally, or for clearing the woods, and 
sometimes they bite with great fury at the flames. 
Owing to these causes their numbers are much dimi- 
nished, and they are only preserved from extirpation 
by the fastnesses and deep recesses of the moun- 
tains. 

During the late war, a detachment of the Ame- 
rican army was encamped two miles north of Ni- 
agara, at a place called Snake Hill, which was 
greatly annoyed by rattle snakes. In order to 
keep them off, the tents were surrounded by 
boughs of the ash tree, which preventive, hereto- 
fore considered certain, was found unavailing."*^ 
Some were killed on the parade, and one morn- 
ing a soldier shook two out of his. blanket. This 
country is champaign, and there is no mountain 
nearer than eight miles. ~ 

Is it true that rattle snakes are killed every 



* This notion may be traced back to Pliny, who asserts it in 
his Natural History. The Americans have derived it from their 
English ancestors, who believed in it, and perhaps it is now 
generally accredited in England. It is hardly necessary to say 
^bat it is entirely unfounded. 



178 RATTLE SNAKES. 

year on York-Island, about eight miles from the 
city, near the great strata of geneiss ^ T am told 
that some years ago a large one was found in a 
populous street of that city ; and that it was sup- 
posed to have been lost by its keeper ; — may it 
not have emigrated from its den on the island ? 

As soon as the warmth of the season will per- 
mit, this serpent evacuates his den, and travels at 
his leisure about eight or ten miles from it, where 
he continues until September, when he returns to 
his winter quarters, most terrifically furious and 
ferocious. He couples in August, and produces 
next June. 



LETTER XLIl. 

Western Region, August , 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

When the rattle snake intends to bite, he coils 
himself up like a cable, and then extending his 
head, throws his whole body forward with rapidi- 
ty and fury at the object he intends to strike. 
Sometimes he makes a kind of singing noise, and 
when he rattles he does not mean to wound. All 
snakes are very irritable when in coition, and the 
crotalus is very dangerous from this period to the 
time of his hybernation. 



RATTLE SNAKES. 1 T9 

I have already mentioned the failure of an ex- 
perimeiit relative to the efficacy of white ash 
against the approaches of the rattle snake. I 
have been told of a rattle snake that had been 
kept in a cage eight months without food, and 
without any apparent diminntion of bulk. Al* 
though furious when enraged, it is alleged, that 
he would not bite at a white ash stick. And it is 
asserted, that if you enclose this serpent by a cir- 
cumvallation of white ash leaves and lire, that he 
will elect to make his retreat through the flames.* 
It is said that the juice of the leaves of the ash has 
been found efficacious against tlie bite of the colu- 
ber chersea, the asping of the Swedes, which like 
the prester of Lucan, kills by a horrible swelling 
of the wliole human frame, and which inhabits 
only a particular district of Sweden among the 
willows. It is certain that there are districts of 
country in which rattle snakes are never seen, 
while at no great distance they abound. For in- 
stance, they have never been known to inhabit the 
town of New-Berlin, in Chenango county, and 
yet they have been found about ten miles off, 
towards the mouth of the Unadilla. It is said 
that they avoid land timbered witli beech and ma- 
ple. Whether the cause arises from the timber 



* This superstitious idea was refuted in a note to the last 
number. 



\ 
180 RATTLE SNAKES. 

or the soil which produces It may be a question. 
White oak land is preferred by them. The small 
species generally live in open swamps, and their 
bite is not considered so dangerous. 

Some negroes killed 315 rattle snakes a lew 
springs ago, by smoking them out of a den at the 
south end of Canandaigua Lake. There are ma- 
ny about Eighteen-mile creek, in Genesee coun- 
ty, where they inhabit the open ledges and fissures 
in the rocks, and there are dens in the mountains 
on the south side of the Mohawk river, at a place 
called the Nore, in Montgomery county. A great 
den exists on the east side cf Genesee river, near 
Rochester. In the spring they travel west, (as 
their heads are then found in that direction) ten 
or twelve miles, and scatter themselves over the 
low lands ; and for this purpose they swim across 
the river. In autumn their heads are pointed to 
the east, as they then return to their den. In Au- 
gust 18 16, a monstrous rattle snake was killed at 
New-Mills, New-Jersey, which had eleven rattles, 
and was five feet long, and which was the only 
one seen for several years within many miles of 
diat place : and some years ago, in the vicinity of 
Lake George, a whole den of rattle snakes migra- 
ted from one mountain to another. This was in 
T,he autumn, and was unquestionably done for ti 
more secure and comfortable residence. 



RATTLE SNAKES. ISt 

Fancy has assigned to the lordly rattle snake 
an attendant, or minister, like the jackall of the 
king of the quadrupeds. This is a venomous vi- 
per, with a flat head, and a body coloured like 
the rattle snake. It has no crepitaculum, and is 
called the ratde snake's pilot. 

I have been told, but I have had no opportunity 
of ascertaining the fact, that the rattle snake dif- 
fers from all others, for that when skinned, the 
whole body becomes open to the back bone, and 
and that no intestines are visible except the heart. 

It appears that the rattle snake is not singular 
in the selection of his winter quarters. Thunberg 
speaks of a mountain, or rather a large single 
rock, in the Cape Colony, in Africa, called Slan- 
genkof, (serpent's head) on one side of it is a large 
and deep crevice, which makes this rock remarka- 
ble, for every autumn the serpents go there and 
coil together, and come out in summmer. The 
poison of the serpent has most power over those 
animals whose blood is the warmest, and the 
action of whose heart is the most lively; while 
on the contrary it is said not to be a poison to 
the serpent itself, nor to its fellows, nor in gene- 
ral to cold-blooded animals. I have beard this 
remark contradicted in relation to the bife of the 
X rattle snake, although I believe it to be true of 

the viper tribe in general. A person saw two 
I 2 



182 RATTLE SNAKE^. 

engaged in battle — at last one bit the otheij 
which immediately retreated, and died in a few 
minutes. It was supposed that it went ofi' rapidly 
for an antidote. 

To show the rapidity of the bite, and the mor- 
tality of the venom, the following anecdotes were 
related to me : A man in pursuance of a common 
practice of killing snakes, took a rattle snake by 
the tail from under a log, and snapped off its head 
like the cracking of a whip ; he was bit in the 
thumb, without knowing it, during this rapid ope^ 
ration, and died. Another one killed a rattle 
snake, and cut off the head about five inches long, 
and ordered a boy to bury it ; not obeying ths 
order fast enough, and being hurried in his work, 
the man took hold of the head, which turned 
round and bit him so that he died. 

The same serpent possesses very different de- 
grees of power in its bile, according to time and 
circumstances. This is beautifully intimated by 
Virgil when speaking of a serpent common in 
Italy in his time. 

" Est etiam ille malus Calabris in saltibus anguis, 
Squammea con vol v ens sublato pectore terga, 
Atque, Dotis longam maculosus grandibus alvum r 
Qui, dum amnes uUi rumpuntur fontibosj et dura 
Vere madent udo terrae, ac pluvialibus Austris, 
Slagna cojit ; ripisque habitans, hie piscibus atram. 
iioprobus inglaviem^. ranisquc ioquacibu» sxpleti 



RATTLE SNAKES. 183 

Postquam exhausta palus, terrjeque avdore dehiscunt, 
Exsilit in siccum ; et flammantia lumina (orqtjens, 
Sjevit agris, asperque siti, atque xterrilus aestu. 
]Ne mihi turn molles sub dio carpere somnos, 
JSon dorso nemoris libeat jacuisse per her herbas ; 
Cum positis novus exuviis nitidusque juventa 
Volvitur ; aut catulos tecti?, aut ova relinquenSj 
Artfuus ad solem, et Unguis micat ore trisulcis." 

I am told that rattle snakes have been seen on 
Long-Island, and at Snake Hill, near Newburgh. 
There is a beautiful island called Diamond Island, 
containing about an acre cf land near the head of 
Lake George, and it is said that it was formerly 
so overrun by rattle snakes, that travellers ship- 
wrecked there were forced to lodge one night in 
the trees, and that the serpents were extirpated by 
hogs brought there for the purpose. 

On the south side of a mountain west of this 
lake, and at the head of it, there is a large den of 
rattle snakes. At the village there lived a pro- 
fessional rattle snake catcher, who had taken in 
one season 1300, and who made a livelihood by 
selling the oil and the flesh, and by vending living 
ones for shows. He went out as usual, with a 
large basket covered with a carpet, and was found 
dead after an absence of some days. In carrying 
the basket, it is supposed that the covering fell 
off, and that one of his serpents bit him in the 
side, as he he was much swollen, and there was 



134 EAGLE.-- 

found by him a rattle snake cut up, which it is 
presumed he had applied to the wound. 



LETTER XLIII. 

Western Region, August, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

Some of the distinguished naturalists who figu- 
red in the world after the resurrection of .letters, 
adopted an analytical or rather methodical way 
of discussion, which was admirably" calculated to 
illustrate natural science, and to facilitate instruc- 
tion. For instance, in treating of birds, they 
would describe the genus in extenso, and then 
would give a particular account of each distinct 
species, under the following heads ; sometimes 
omitting, and sometimes adding to the specifica- 
tions. 

Forma — descriptio. 

Locus — Natura — mores — ingenium. 

Nidus — partus — victus. 

Vox — cantus — volatus. 

Capiendi ratio. 

Usus in cibo. 

Usus in medicina. 
These accounts were mingled with great inac= 
*ntraciesj and numerous fables, but yet they 



EAGLES. 1S5 

abounded with all the fertility of genius, and evin- 
ced uncommon reseorch and iitdefatigabie indus- 
try. Our modern naturalists, with sorye distin- 
guished exceptions, confine their attention almost 
exclusively to the forma et descriptlo ; and natu- 
ral science in their hands has become a study of 
hard words, instead of the study of animal, vege- 
table, and mineral nature. 

In the kw illustrations which I have given of 
the zoology of this country, I have consulted ac- 
curacy instead of wandering into the flowery fields 
of fancy. My stock of information must necessa- 
rily be very limited so far as it depends on my 
own observation — and my opportunities for deri- 
ving information from others have not been many» 
The hints or intimations which I throw out may 
serve sometimes as clues to more interesting inves- 
tigations, and a wider fi^^ld of natural science was 
never afforded than that which this country fur- 
nishes. 

In various places I have seen the falco leuco- 
cephalus, or bald eagle ; the falco ossifragus, or 
grey eagle ; and the falco halisetus, or osprey„ 
In Turtius Linnaeus the osprey is confounded with 
the grey eagle, but this is an error of die editor, 
not of the immortal author; and Wi!s n suppo- 
ses that the grey eagle is a junior bald eai'rle, 
which has not arrived to maturity. It is well 



186 EAGLES. 

known that the osprey is a purveyor for the two 
other kinds of Eag-le — and that they compel thii> 
skilful bird to surrender the fish which he catches 
so abundantly. 

The immense quantities of fish which collect 
below the falls of Niagara, and which inhabit 
that river and the mouth of Lake Erie, necessa- 
rily draw together these birds, and 1 have never 
;seen so many as appear to occupy this region. 

I shot a bald eagle which measured eight feet 
from the extremity of one wing to that of the 
other. His talons were so formidable, ^nd his 
courage so great, that after receiving his mortal 
wound, he beat off several dogs in a pitched bat- 
tle ; and I was told of one which was killed near 
Canandaigua, and which weighed 14 pounds. 
It had actually killed several sheep. I have seen 
both kinds near the Catskill mountains, where 
they erect their aeries on the loftiest trees, and 
where they soar in " eagle-winged pride." And 
yet T have beheld this imperial bird fly from a 
tree on which a crow bad lit. I have seen him 
avoid the annoyances of the king-bird, and re- 
treat before a congregation of ospreys. 

A grey eagle was shown to me which must have 
been full grown^ It was the size of a bald eagle, 
and had been shot in the wing about twelve 
months before. Its colour was a darkish browa 



EAGLES. 187 

ail over, with the exception of the interior feathers^ 
which were whitish. The cere was also wliitish. 
The bill was of a darkish colour to the cere — 
that of the bald eagle is yellow. 

Three eaglets were found in a bald eagle's nest 
at Lewiston, and I was informed that some years 
ago four were caught in an aerie on the highest 
button-wood tree in the forests of that country* 
— The nest was as large as a cock of hay. 
In making it, the old eagles made use of the limbs 
of the tree which were broken off as thick as a 
man's wrist. The aerie had been there twenty 
years, except during the late war, when it was 
built on a tree in an open field, the inhabitants 
having moved off. The tree was cut down for 
the purpose of getting the young. One of them 
was carried to the village, and the old ones follow- 
ed it to the house where it was kept, recognized 
it, and flew about the place of its confinement. 
One of the other eaglets was carried to the fort, 
and it is said to have been larger than the other. 
Whenever a stranger appeared, they ruffled their 
heads, and indicated great irritation. They 
made a mournful noise when annoyed and were 
very ferocious. One of them had engaged the 
aflfections of a dog, which brought him garbage 
whenever he could obtain it. 



ISS EAGLES. 

An intelligent inaa in whose veracity I have 
confidence, says, that the baid eagle is entirely 
distinct from the grey — that he cannot be mista- 
ken iii his opinion, for that he has seen the male 
of each sptcies in connexion with his appropriate 
female. 

Lawson, in his history of Carolina, says that 
the bald eagle breeds very often, and lays eggs 
again under the callow young, whose warmth 
hatches them. The same thing is said of the pi- 
cus aiiratus of this country, vulgarly called high 
hole. These allegations ought to be investigated, 
as they furnish, if true, a singular anomaly in na- 
tural history. With respect to the eagle it is pro- 
bably true, if half of what is alleged b}^ one of the 
early Naturalists is correct. Johnston, in his ela- 
borate work printed at Amsterdam MDLVII. 
speaking ' De aquila in genere,' says — " Datur 
genus quod propter tres testiculos, Triorchis ap- 
pellatur. Coeunt vero frequenter ; et faemina ter- 
decies in die compi-essa, si masrevocet, denuo ac- 
currit. Unde jEgyptiis et Venus dicltur, et soH 
dicatur. Commiscentur aliquando cum accipetre, 
sed ovis incubare non dignantur ; sed et marem 
cum lupa aliquando coire scriptores Africani refe- 
runt." 

Charlevoix says that his people threw down, 
near OswegOj an eagles' nest which was compo- 



DEER. 189 

sed of a cart load of wood, and that it contained 
two eaglets, which were not as yet feathered — 
that they were eaten, and sTiade very good food. 
I think that Boccacio in his Decameron, serves 
up a falcon as a choice dish. 

The Americans have selected the eagic as the 
symbol of national power. In the ancient my- 
thology he was the bird of Jove, and in all na- 
tions he is the sign of strength and majesty. His 
eye can see to an immeasurable distance, and hie 
flight is as rapid as the vollied lightning. 



LETTER XLIV. 

Western Region, August, 1 820, 
My Deah Sir, 

0:s my way to the v*est I passed a few days at 
Albaiiy, and among other public places I visited 
the Museum of Natural History. Here I saw the 
largest of the cervus genus called the moose. It 
was mounted in the museum. Its height above the 
shoulders 7 J feet, and its weight 1000 lbs. Its 
horns had fallen otT before it was killed. Twen- 
ty-five it is said were killed in the country north 
of Whitestown last winter, at different times. 
This one belonged to a herd of nve : The great 
depth of the snow facilitated the success of the 



196 



DEER. 



hunter. Under the throat tiiere was a wattit 
pendant from it, and at least nine inches long — 
being an excrescence covered with long, coarse, 
black hair. Upper lip broad, and hanging over 
the lower — ears long and standing — nose broad 
— nostrils large — neck shorter than the head — 
along the tip a short thick mane — body brownish 
— hoofs large — horns with short beams spreading 
into large broad palms, the inside of which is 
smooth, and the outside furnished with several 
sharp snags. The horns have weigh^'d 60 lbs. 
Although this stuffed moose had no horns, yet I 
have inspected two sets of horns which had fallen 
from others. 

This animal is called by Linnaeus cervus alecs, 
and he is confounded by several writers with the 
elk of America, called by Dr. Barton cervus wa- 
pite. These animals are specifically distinct 
from the elk and stag of Europe. The American 
moose has been styled by some naturalists the 
black moose ; and the American elk, the grey 
moose, to discriminate them from each other. 
The moose is confined in his range to the cold 
regions of the north, while the elk has been seen 
from Canada to Mexico. 

I am told that two young moose were sold at 
Utica some years ago for five hundred dollars. 
This animal lives entirely by browsing. He trots 



DEER. 



I9i 



twenty miles an hour ; is docile, and can be easily 
tamed ; and is only dangerous, like all olher 
deer, in the rutting season. Sir John Wentw orth, 
Governor of Nova Scotia, had one in his park, 
and as his company were assembling at dinner 
one day, they amused themselves with looking at 
it, running about in a furious manner, and it 
finally pushed over a small building from which 
the house-keeper crept in a state of great confu- 
3ion. 

He is more easy to tame than any of the deer 
family. He has been frequently kept at Churchill, 
as tame as sheep, and even more so, for he would 
frequently follow his keeper any distance from 
home, and at his call return with him, without the 
least trouble, or ever oirering to deviate from the 
path ; and Hearne relates that the same Indian 
who had brought the above mentioned young 
moose to Churchill, had, in 1777, two others so 
tame, that when on his passage to Prince of 
Wales's Fort, in a canoe, the moose always fol- 
lowed him along on the bank of the river, and at 
night, or on any otlier occasion when the Indians 
landed, tlic young moose generally came and 
fondled on them, in the same manner as the most 
domestic animal would have done, and never of- 
fered to stray from the tents. Unfortunately, in 
crossing a deep bay in one of the lakes ou a fine 



192 r»EEK. 

day, al! the fndians that were not interested lu 
the safe lauding of those engaging creatures, pad- 
dled from point to point, and the man that owned 
ihem not caring to go so far about by himself, 
accompanied the others, ill hopes that they would 
follow him round as usual 5 but at night the young 
moose did not arrive, and as the howling of &ome 
wolves was heard in that quarter, it was supposed 
they had been devoured by them, as they were 
never afterwards seen 

I have also seen several live elks. This animal 
is called by Catesby, cervus major Americanus 
— by Jefferson, alces Americanus, cornibus tereti- 
bus, or round horned elk — by Clavigero, the alces 
of New-Mexico — by Barton, cervus v»apite — and 
he is confounded by Pennant with the moose, and 
described by him as the stag. The male has a 
beard imder his throat and upon his breast — (ca- 
runcula gutturalis) a short mane — tail very short 
— the female has no horns. The horns are not 
palmated like those of the moose, but are round- 
ed, and consist, 1st. of the brow antlers. 2d. the 
two middle prongs, sometimes called the fighting 
horns: and 3d. the horns, properly so called. 
His horns do not commonly drop till June, but 
sometimes as early as April. Under the interior 
angle of each eye, there is an oblique slit, or 
^aperture, about an inch in length, which is said to 



i)EER. - 193 

communicate witli the nostrils. By closing the 
nostrils, it makes a v*'histliug noise, by forcing 
the air through these openings. This organiza- 
tion is probably auxiliary to smelling, and this 
structure which is termed sinus lachrymalis, or 
sinus sub-ocularis is found in the fallow deer, and 
in most of the antelope genus. 

The greatest altitude of this animal is not five 
feet. I saw a male which with two* females had 
cost fifteen hundred dollars ; he had cast his horns 
nbout the middle of April, wiiich is earlier than 
common. Colour dun, except towards the pos- 
leriors, which is whitish. When the male is 
angry, he strikes with his feet, and is very dan- 
gerous. 

This animal differs from the moose, 

1. In conformation of body. 

2. Shape of horns. 

3. Inferior size and height. 

4. In its adaptation to a southern clime. 

And I trust that they will not be confounded to 
gether in future. Let the moose be denominated 
exclusively cervus Americanus, and the elk cerviis 
wapite. 



194 ©EOLoqj. 



LETTER XLV. 

Western Region, August, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

In a late letter I attempted to show that the 
land was continually gahiing on the lakes, by the 
agency of calcareous depositions, and I think that 
I pointed out a region of schistic formation, lying 
south of the great lime stnne ledge of the west. 
That this calcareous formation dips to the south, 
I have no doubt, but whether it underlays the 
schistic, I have not been able to ascertain. This 
southern depression of the calcareous ledge below 
the crumbling slate, would necessarily create ba- 
sins for the springs and rains of the country, and 
which by wearing away that fragile substance, 
would in time expand into lakes. This is evident- 
ly the case with the Cayuga lake, which is con- 
tinually enlarging its borders ; and the fall of old 
ledges from the precipices demonstrates that the 
present order of things has not been of very re- 
mote antiquity. 

The shores of Lake Erie are sustained by strata 
of schistic which are continually giving way be- 
fore the violence of the waves, and the whole lake 
is supposed to be in a state of continual expansion. 



OEOLOGYi 195 

These slate rocks are In some places fifty feet 
high, and have been worn away in several places 
more than eighty rods ; and as this operation has 
been carried on with a steady progression, there 
might perhaps be some means discovered of as- 
certaining the time of the process.- It is supposed 
that a probable datum might be obtained by ex- 
amining a number of the trees which grow in a 
thin layer of earth on these rocks, and which have 
been undermined by the rock failing off. Losing 
their support and nourishment on that side, they 
die, while the other side is supported and nourish- 
ed, and continues to live and grow. By in- 
specting a number of trees in this situation, 
and ascertaining their age by tlie concentric cir- 
cles since they lost their support, and comparing 
that with the extent of the wearing away of the 
rock since that period, a pretty accurate measure- 
ment of the time of this operation might be es- 
tablished. Of the certainty of this process there 
is the most unquestionable evidence. Near the 
Eighteen Mile Creek, about fifteen miles from 
Buffalo, a thin bed or sheet of lime stone appears 
in a high perpendicular ledge of slate. It is 
about a foot in thickness, and lies in its bed, bro- 
ken as it were by perpendicular fissures into small 
blocks. It commences with the slate at its sur- 
face, which surface is nearly horixontal, but takes 



iS6 GEOLOGi. 

the same course with the plane of its lamina, 
which dips something less than a degree to the 
north-west. The edge of this calcareous sheet is 
visible for more than half a mile, projecting gene- 
rally two or three feet out of the schistic ledge to 
the place of its descent below the surface of the 
lake ; and there it is seen uncovered for some dis- 
tance, and extending into the lake more than a 
quarter of'a mile, to the termination of the slate 
rock, and to the place where the water becomes 
very deep. When this lime stone lay above the 
surface of the lake, the action of the water has 
worn awa}' the subjacent slate, and the calcareous 
blocks fell off; but as these blocks are much 
harder than the schistic, they are of course a long- 
er time io wearing away. Thry are however 
found extending from the ledge many rods into 
the lake, and in a state of gradual diminution, the 
outer sides being ground down to pebbles. These 
appearances exist in other places, and warrant 
ihe conclusion, that this schistic barrier once ex- 
tended very far into the lake. 

While the south shore ofLake Erie is surround- 
ed by schistic, that of Lake Ontario is supported 
by lime and sand stone, much harder substances. 

These intimations are certainly deserving of 
a inore critical examination, and since I am on 
the subject of geology, I shall exhibit to you an 



interesting outline, which I know, so far as my 
observation extends, to be correct, and which a 
friend of mine derived from an ingenious gentle- 
man of the west, 

A ridge commences at the Little Falls on the 
Mohawk river, and from thence takes a south 
westerly direction, until it passes the south end 
of the Seneca Lake ; from thence it turns, and 
and continues nearly a west course, until it enters 
that part of the state of Ohio called New Con- 
necticut. It there diverges to the south west, and 
expands into a level country. It however, main- 
tains nearly the same horizontal level, and pas- 
sing round the south end of Lake Michigan, 
bends to the north, and continues in a northerly 
direction between lakes Michigan and Superior on 
the one side, and the riverMississippi on the other, 
keeping that course even beyond their waters, 
and forming the height of land that embosoms 
the Lake of the Woods, and the other lakes in 
that region. It may be observed that this ridge 
divides the waters that fall into the Mohawk, One 
tario, Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Suf>erior, on 
the one side, from those of the Susquehannab, 
Allegany, and different branches of the Ohio and 
Mississippi on the other. Near the Little Falls, 
and until it passes the head of Seneca Lake, on 

the northerly side it forms in many places a hilly 
K 



198> NIAGARA FALLS. 

or broken surface. From Seneca Lake until if 
passes into the state of Ohio, it is for the most 
part abrupt on the north side, but on the souther- 
ly side, from its summit, the country descends 
with a very gentle and almost imperceptible in- 
clination to the south west. 



LETTER XLVL 

Cataract of JViagara, September, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

Lewiston is about seven miles from the Falls 
of Niagara, and in passing from the former to the 
latter place, I observed on the top of the high hill 
or slope of Lewiston. the remains of the old way 
by which the French drew up their goods which 
they sent round the cataract. A crane was fixed 
on the summit of the hill, and an inclined plane 
down the descent, in which sleighs were placed, 
and as articles were conveyed up in one vehicle 
others were let down in another. 

About two miles from Lewiston, the DeviVs 
Hole is to be seen. It is a monstrous chasm, or 
ravine, close to the road, and 150 feet deep, where 
the hill is upwards of 300 feet above the level of 
Niagara river. It is formed by a small creek cal- 
ed Bloody Run, precipitating itself into the hank. 



NIAGARA FALLS. 199 

This sanguinary name is derived from this cir- 
cumstance : After the capture of Niagara by Sir 
William Johnson, in the war of 1756, commonly 
called the French war, an escort of thirty English 
with waggons, were driven down this precipice 
by an ambuscade of French and Indians, and all 
killed, except one who broke through the enemyo 
and another who was caught by a tree on his de-= 
scent, and although miserably wounded, was 
living a few years ago to narrate the melancholy 
event. 

Two miles from this place, is the whirlpool of 
the Niagara, which exhibits the power of water in 
the most astonishing manner. When the largest 
trees of the forest are involved in the vortex of 
this fresh water Maelstrom, such is the fury of its 
vertiginous motion, that they are whirled round 
with inconceivable velocity, and after being pre- 
cipitated into the great abyss of water, and lost to 
the eye for a considerable time, they are either 
ejected in fragments from their prison, or entirely 
demolished. 

The celebrated cataract of Niagara has been 
delineated by so many travellers who have visited 
it from La Houtan, Hennepin, and Charlevoix, 
down to Weld, Volney, and Schultz, that T shall 
not attempt to add to the number by a formal de- 
scription. It has been the subject of painting, as 



200 NIAGARA FALLS. 

well as of writing, but neither the pen nor the pencil 
are adequate to aftord a competent idea of its sub- 
limity. You recognize at a great distance this 
astonishing place, from the ascent of vapors, and 
the clouds which are always hanging over it, and 
you hear the roaring of the waters like the sound 
of distant thunder. At Fort Schlosser, upwards 
of two miles above the falls, by water, the river 
narrows, and rapids commence, of irresistible 
force, and immense velocity, and extend to the 
falls. The noise, agitation, and fury of these ra- 
pids, constitute as great a curiosity as the cataract 
itself. An island called Goat Island, containing 
about eighty acres, runs up to the falls, and di- 
vides the waters. Here the whole river precipitates 
itself headlong over a perpendicular ledge of rocks, 
1G2J feet, according to an accurate measurement 
of the descent. The greater part of the mighty 
mass passes over on the west side, and viewed 
from the American bank appears green, in the 
thickest part of the cataract, whereas the volume 
of water on the east side, when seen from Table 
Rock, looks white, which may be owing to its in- 
ferior density. There are cataracts which exceed 
this in altitude, but there is none in the world 
which approaches it in volume of water. Below 
the cataract there are large rocks, which have 
been torn and hurled from their foundations by 



NIAGARA FALLS. 



201 



the rapids, and some years ago, an immense ma?« 
of the rocky stratum was precipitated over, and 
shook the country round like an earthquake, 

Ovid's description of a cataract furnishes but a 
very imperfect idea of this wonder of nature. 

<' Estnemus iEmoniae, praerupta quod undique claudit 
Silva : vocant Tempe. Per quae Fencus ab imo 
Effusus Pindo spuinosis volvitur undis, 
Dejectuque gravi teiuies agUantia fumos 
Nubila conducit, suniniasque aspergine silvas 
Impliuit J et sonitu plus quam vicina fatigat." 

This cataract is a great manufactory of clouds 
and rainbows, and it serves as a barometer as far 
as Buffalo. If liie spray spreads from the north 
it is a sign of a northerly wind. — A south east 
wind indicates rain. 

Goat Island derives its name from its being 
appropriated to goats by Mr. Stedman, the form- 
er possessor of Fort Schlosser. It now belongs 
to individuals, and is connected with the right 
bank of the river by bridges. It was formerly 
supposed that it would make an escellent place 
for a state penitentiary on account of the imprac- 
ticability of passing from it previous to die erec- 
tion of the bridges : but this is a mistake. It can 
be easily reached by a canoe from the place 
where the rapids separate at the the head of the 
island, l^ut it is difficult to retire. Stedman used 



202 NIAGARA PALLS. 

to ride to it on horseback, and I saw a man who 
had planted potatoes on it in former times. 1 
observed trees on it, on which are inscribed the 
names of visitors as far back as 1769. A skele- 
ton V, as found buried in a grave, and indications 
of a canoe being made about 40 years ago were 
also observed. I heard the singing of locusts and 
birds. It is covered with large trees, and the soil 
is uncommonly good, being composed of a fine 
vegetable mould. This island was formerly the 
place where eagles erected their aeries, as well 
on account of its seclusion, as its propinquity to 
the carcases below the falls. Some years ago a 
large deer was seen for two or three weeks wading 
a short distance into the rapids from this island.^ 
and retreating. He had been drifted down from 
above, and not knowing the safe passage to the 
shore, he no doubt was carried over the falis^ 
Volney says that he found at the bottom of the 
precipice the carcases of some deer, and wild 
hoars, which the current had hurried down the 
cataract on their attempting to swim across the 
river above it. As there are no wild boars in 
this countr}', this shows how inattentive the most 
observing travellers are to objects of natural his- 
tory. It is genen^lly supposed that every animal 
is deprived of life which passes over the falls, but 
this is a mistake. Tame geese frequently escape ; 



NIAGARA FALLS. 203 

A dog once got clear with a broken rib ; and 
two sheep were found below the cataract, one of 
which was alive. On the other hand, the proba- 
bility of escaping with life is scarcely any. Wild 
geeso, deer, fish, and other animals, are to be 
seen dashed to pieces. A tragical story is told 
of a poor Indian, which would form a good sub- 
ject for a poem. He had tied his canoe to the 
shore at Chippewa, and had fallen asleep. Some 
ruthless villain, it is supposed, loosened his fast- 
ening, and he floated down. When he got invol- 
ved in the great rapid, he was awakened by the 
noise, and rising up, and perceiving his perilous 
situation, he tried with all his might to paddle 
himself out — but finding his eilbrts unavailing, 
he wrapped himself up in his blanket, and sat 
down in the canoe, yielding himself up to his fate 
with stoical apathy, and with Roman fortitude. 
In this short and dreadful interval between life 
and death, a poetic imagination might conceive 
and describe with wonderful pathos and energy, 
tlie ideas which passed through the untutored 
mind of the poor Indian, and the feelings which 
ajjitatcd his bosom, when on the eve of a final 
separation from his family and sacred home, and 
when the ties which connected him with this 
world, were about to be for ever dissolved. 



20i NIAGARA FALLS. 



X.ETTER XLVll. 

Cataract of Niagara ^ September, 1820. 
Mr Dear Sir, 

I BELIEVE that in a former letter I mentioned 
the nature of the rocks wliich constitute the pre- 
cipice of the Niagara Falls. The substratum is 
a compact flesh red sand stone, infusible before 
the blow pipe, but is rendered friable, and retains 
its color. The upper strata are composed of 
carbonate of lime, of im.mense volume and density. 
This sand stone becomes brittle when exposed to 
the atmosphere, and as it descends it increases in 
fragility. About tvv'o miles north of the cataract, 
ihere is a sulphur spring near the river, where the 
sand stone is the lower stratum. At a considera- 
ble distance down the DeviVs Hole, the same rock 
appears, and also near the bottom of the great 
ridge, or slope, at Lewiston. The country abovQ 
the heights of Lewiston and Queenston is a vast 
plain, from which there is an abrupt descent of 
near three hundred feet, into another plain at 
Lewiston, and in which plain is Lake Ontario. 
The upper slope is table land, as well as the plain 
below, and this produced the French denomina- 
tions of Upper and Lower Canadgi. The river 



NIAGARA FALLS. 205 

divides the slope between the heights of Lewlston 
and Queenston, which is composed of the same 
materials on each side. This fact in connexion 
with the scanty covering of earth which the rocks 
on the top of the bank retain in other places on 
the western shore, and the parallel arrangement 
of alluvial earth on the eastern side, now two 
hundred feet above the surface of the river, fur- 
nishes proof little short of demonstration, that the 
Niagara river has sawed through the rock from 
Queenston to the present falls. At the heights of 
Lewiston the upper stratum is composed of solid 
masses of lime stone resting on red indurated 
brittle clay, then at a great distance from the top, 
and below this cla}', a stratum of red s^nd stone, 
twelve or fifteen feet thick appears ; thence to the 
bottom of -the precipice red and blue indurated 
clay and stones of the same colour, chiefly red. 

At Black Rock, and at Bird Island, black flint 
abounds embedded, but not incorporated in lime 
stone, and the lime stone ledge which siipoorts 
Lake Erie dips to the south. The bod of the 
river from Lake Erie to the falls, is composed of 
lime stone. From Lewiston to Lake Ontario, a 
distance of seven miles, the bank of th* river is 
composed of red indurated clay ; an., the village 
of Lewiston is one hundred and twenty-three feet 
'above the level of the river. 
K 2 



206 NIAGARA FALLS. 

Lake Erie is elevated 541 feet above the tide 
water at Troy, and Lake Ontario 206 feet. 

From Lake Erie to Fort Schlosser there is a 
fall of 15 feet 

To Lewiston, say 332 

To Fort Niagara, say 334 

The upper strata of this region from Lake 
Erie to Lewiston, are formed of calcareous rock 
of various kinds, which rests upon sand stone^ 
chiefly red and friable, and which reposes on red 
clay, chiefly indurated. In comparing the appear- 
ances of stone with the stratified levels, the con- 
tinuity and identity of the former will be obvious.^ 

The chasm at the bottom of the cataract is 347 
feet deep of water. A beautiful white substance 
is found here — supposed by the vulgar to be a 
concretion of foam, consolidated by the power of 
w^ater — but it is carbonate and sulphate of lime, 
which has been reunited after being in a state of 
solution. The lamellar gypsum found here is 
very fine, as well as the white amorphous. 

The recessioa of the falls from Lewiston and 
Queenston, is easily explained on this geological 
view of the country. The fragile materials which 
compose the foundations of the great calcareous 
rocks are continually and gradually wearing 
away by the action of water, and by a partial 
exposure to the s^tmosphere ; the removal of tfefe 



NIAGARA F-iLLS. 207 

sub-Strata will necessarily produce a precipitation 
of the super-incumbent rocks into the watery gulf. 
The progress of this operation is obvious — the 
immense bodies of ice which are carried down 
from Lake Erie, must also be a powerful auxilia- 
ry, and frost and earthquakes unquestionably 
contribute greatly to the production of these 
results. 

If below the outlet of Lake Erie, any chasm 
should be produced by earthquakes or any other 
cause which would remove the lime stone rocks, 
and enable the water to reach the soft sand stone 
and red clay, the fissure would enlarge, and in 
course of time the whole intervening rocks would 
be swept away, and Lake Erie would plunge into 
Lake Ontario. The great plateau, or table laud, 
below Lewiston, would then be deluged, and the 
age of Deucalion would visit this portion of the 
great western region. 

At the feet of great falls of water and in the 
bosom of sequestered ravines, the devotee of natu- 
ral science generally finds a fertile field of inves- 
tigation. This cataract however does not furnish 
many interesting specimens of mineralogy, but 
its neighborhood is rich in botany. The banks 
of the river about the falls are lined with white 
pine and cedar. One of the latter was pointed 
QUt to me which leans terrifically twenty feet over 



^08 NlAC^aA FALLS.^ 

the great eastern bank, and in the crotch of which 
a most beautiful and accomplished lady from 
Boston, took a picturesque view of the falls. 

Charlevoix tells often or twelve Ottaways who, 
in trying to cross over to Goat Island in order to 
avoid the pursuit of the Iroquois, were drawn 
over the falls in spite of all their efforts. 

In the autumn of 1810, a salt boat- with four 
men, bound up to Black Rock with 150 barrels 
of salt, w as upset, and drifting down the river^ 
went over the falls. All perished but one person, 
who escaped at first by the rudder, and finally 
was taken up by a boat from Chippewa. Next 
spring a canoe with three men was carried down 
the cataract. 

Near the British shore, and between the Bridge- 
water mills and the cataract, there is a small grass 
Island about mid way between the shore and Gjoat 
island. A deer took the water near Chippewa 
at a point above this island, and fell down upon 
it, where he could not be approached — and after 
remaining there nearly a day and night, was not 
to be seen the ensuing morning. An anecdote is 
told of an old blind mare, which shows superior 
sagacity. She went into the water above the 
rapids of Niagara to cool herself. She was una- 
ble to find her way out, and she had descended 
into the vicinity of a plafe where she would have 



NIAGARA FALLS. 209 

been inevitably can ied down. Some boys, anx- 
ious to see her swept down the cataract, and im- 
patient at the delay, threw stones at her. This 
indicated the way of escape, and she immediately 
returned in that direction. 

The passage of the river below the cataract is 
not considered dangerous. There is a boat sta- 
tioned there for the conveyance of passengers, in 
which I have passed. During the late war smug- 
gling was carried on in that direction in the 
night time, and before a ladder was erected on 
the east bank, people frequently passed over from 
Canada to steal apples at Fort Schlosser, 

But I see, my friend, that you are not only 
tired of the subject, but of the manner in which I 
have handled it. A description of this mighty 
cataract is the Ulyssean bow of travellers. I 
could say much more, but I shall only trespass 
further on your patience by stating that 1 have 
been credibly informed, that Dr. Kerr, an intelli- 
gent and respectable inhabitant of Bridgewater^ 
who has resided in Upper Canada thirty years, 
marked a tree at that time on each shore of the 
cataract, and now believes that there has been a 
retrocession of 150 feet in his time, chiefly at the 
centre of the crescent. You can see immense 
piles of stones thrown down at the foot of the 



210 



CANAL. 



cataract, and masses on tl-.e bank of the precipicp, 
protruding; from the summit of the cataract over 
tlie yawning gulf. 



LETTER XLVIII. 

Western Region, September, 1820. 
]My Dear Sir, 

It has been found that the loss of water in the 
canal exceeds the original estimate. Whether 
this is most owing to soakage, leakage, or to the 
power of evaporation, may be a subject of contro- 
versy. I am inclined to believe that in all these 
respects the diminution has been greater than 
was anticipated. While the former will cease to 
operate, in proportion as the canal is rendered 
more impermeable and tight, the latter must con- 
tinue with the duration of the world. 

Many calculations and experiments have been 
made, at various times, to determine the quantity 
of rain and quantity of evaporation in diflerent 
parts of the world. Dr. Halley estimated that 
6914 tons of water are evaporated from every 
square mile of the sea in a day ; and Dr. Shaw- 
has applied this estimate to the Dead Sea, and 
considering the river Jordan about thirty yards 
widC; and taking three feet for the mean depth of 



9 ANAL. 211 

the stream, and allow iiig it to run two miles an 
hour, it discharges every day into the Dead Sea, 
6,090,000 tons of water ; whereas this sea being 
72 miles long and 18 broad, there will be drawn 
up by evaporation 8,9605000 tons, and this differ- 
ence between the supply and the diminution must 
be made good from some other source. Dr. Hal- 
ley, upon a supposition that the Mediterranean 
Sea covers 160 square degrees, infers that it must 
lose in vapour in a summer's day at least 5280 
millions of tons, and that all the rivers which run 
into it only furnish 1827 millions of tons in the 
same period. Bishop Watson calculates, that 
1600 gallons of water evaporate from an acre of 
ground, in twele hours' sun. Dr. Williams of 
Vermont, says that an acre of ground, covered 
with trees, throws out in twelve hours, 3875 gal- 
lons of water ; and he further states that the 
evaporation from a surface of land, covered with 
trees and other vegetables, is one third greater 
than from a surface of water. And he also asserts 
that in Bradford, New England, the evaporation 
amounted in 1772 to 42.66 inches. Dr. Dobson 
states the yearly evaporation in Liverpool to be 
36.78 inches. But the most accurate experiments 
on this subject were made by Dalton, at Manches- 
ter, for three years in succession : and the mean 
rain for that period was o3.d5 inches annually ; 



Sl2 



Canal. 



the mean evaporation from the green ground 
25.14, and from water 44.43. From ihls it ap- 
pears that the evaporation from a surface of water 
is nearly twice as much as from green ground ; and 
also, that about eight or nine inches of rain are 
left for tlie supply of springs and rivers. This 
surplus of water must be drawn from the sea, and 
must return to it again by rivers. It must be 
obvious that these experiments and estimates are 
by no means unerring. But it is supposed that 
the mean annual evaporation over the whole sur- 
face of the earth, is 35 inches for every square 
inch, and that therefore 94,450 cubic miles of 
water are annually evaporated over the whole 
globe. 

Considering the climate of the country through 
which the canal runs — the great heat of the sum- 
mer — the protracted autumn — and the compari- 
tively mild winter, it is not unreasonable to in- 
crease the general calculation in its application 
to that region five inches on green earth, and ten 
inches on water. The whole annual evaporation 
of the middle section of the western canal, reckon- 
ing that each square inch evaporates in that time 
45, will only amount to 9,212,444 hogsheads — 
a loss certainly of no great consequence when we 
consider the supply. 



CANAL. 213 

The mean quantity of rain falling at the follow- 
ing places, in one year with another, is, 
In Etirope — at Hterlaem 24 inches 
Delf27 
Dort 40 
Middleberg 33 
Paris 20 
Lyons 37 
Rome 20 
Padua 37i 
Pisa 34J 
Ulm 27 
Berlin 19J 
Laricashire 40 
Essex 19J 

Manchester 33.55 before men- 
[tioned. 
And in the United States : 

In Cliarlotte, South Caroliiia, 47.66 irxhes = 
In Williamsburgli, Virginia, 47.03S 
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, 35.396 
In Rutland, Vermont, 41.197 

Making every aiiowance for defective or erro- 
iieous experiments, it is clear that there is niore 
raiii as well as more evaporation in this country 
than in Great Britain. That there is more evap- 
oration, must be evident from tlie superior heat 



214 CANAL. * 

of this climate, and from the insular situation of 
the latter country. 

In applying these facts to the canal, I do not 
see that there is any reason to apprehend a scar- 
city of water, either from the quantity of evapo- 
ration or tlie failure of rain. Whatever is taken 
up by the one, will be returned with increase by 
the other. And the vicinity of the great lakes 
will furnish a never failing and plentiful reservoir 
for all the purposes of evaporation, which will 
eitlier be returned to the earth in dew or in rain. 
But diiSculties may occur, when the drain and 
the supply are not contemporaneous. The great- 
est evaporation takes place during the prevalence 
of the greatest heat, and the greatest floods of 
rain occur in spring and autumn. But consider- 
ing the numerous streams and lakes which can 
be pressed into the service of the canal, there is 
no danger but that tlieir wonted supply will 
more than transcend the deficiencies of temporary 
droughts and dearths. It is however well known 
tiiat cultivation has a great influence on the 
waters of a country — by precluding evaporation, 
from trees, and by creating eight times more 
evaporation than existed before opening way for 
the action of the sun. Besides, the loosening of 
the earth has a tendency to choke up and absorb 
the streams, 



CANAL. 



The streams are supplied from swamps — from 
springs — and from an union of both. Cultivation 
dries up the streams which proceed from swamps, 
and diminishes pro tanto those that are fed par- 
tially from that source. Even those derived from 
springs exclusively, may be deprived of their sup- 
ply by various causes. Springs fail as well as 
marshes, but not so often, and this may be owing 
to the failure of rain, or to the clay which holds 
the water, giving way for a less tenacious sub- 
stance. On the other hand, the clearing of a 
country sometimes exhibits waters formerly con- 
cealed in the cavities of rocks, by filling up the 
fissures with earth ; and in former times the 
leaves of trees thickening on the surface of the 
earth formed a compact bed, which exposed the 
rain water collected in it to the power of evapo- 
ration, but the removal of the leaves and the 
opening of the earth by cultivation, enable the 
rain to penetrate into the ground, and to collect 
in copious and perennial springs below the iuliu- 
ence of solar heat. 



INCIDENT. 



LETTER XLIX. 



Western Region, September , 1 820. 
My Dear Sir, 

In one of my solitary walks with my gun oa 
my shoulder, and my dog by my side, 1 strayed 
eight or ten miles from my lodgings ; and as I 
was musing on the beauties of the country, and 
meditating on the various and picturesque scenes 
which were constantly unfolding, I was roused 
from my reverie by voices which proceeded from 
persons at a short distance. In casting my eyes 
in that direction, I saw two venerable men with 
fishinw- rods in their hands angling for trout, in a 
copious and pellucid stream which rolled at their 
feet. I was hailed by them, and requested to ap- 
proach, which I immediately did, and in ex- 
changing salutations, I found that they were men 
of the world, perfectly acquainted with the courte- 
sies of life. One of them held up a string of fine 
trout, and asked me in the most obliging manner 
to go home with therw and partake of the fruits of 
their ajnusement. Struck with the appearance of 
the strangers, and anxious to avail myself of the 
pleasure of their company, I did not hesitate to 
accept of this hospitable offer, on condition that 
-ihey would permit me to add the woodcock, snipe. 



INCIDENT. 217 

and wood ducks, which were suspended from my 
gun, to their acquisitions. This ofier was kindly 
accepted. A general and desultory conversation 
ensued, and we arrived in a short time at a small 
village, and on ascending the steps of an elegant 
house, I was congratulated by my new friends on 
my entry into Oldenbarneveld. In the course 
of an hour, dinner was served up, I sat down and 
enjoyed a treat worthy to be compared to the 
Symposior of Plato. I soon found that these 
venerable friends were emigrants from Holland— 
that ttiey were men of highly cultivated miiidsj 
and polished manners — and that they had selected 
their habitations in this place, where they en- 
joyed 

"An elegant sufficiency, content, 
Retirement, rural quiet, friendsliip, books, 
Ease and alternate labor, useful life, 
Progressive virtue and approving Heavenj" 

The elder of these gentlemen had received the 
best education which Holland could afford He 
was brouglit up a clergyman, and at the com- 
mencement of the American revolution, he be- 
came its enthusiastic and energetic advocate, and 
wrote an able work in vindication of its character 
and conduct. Tn the struggles which subsequent- 
ly took place in his native country, he sided with 
the patriots. His friend held a high military 



218 INCIDENT. 

office during that commotion, and Unites the 
frankness of a soldier and the refinement of a 
gentleman with the erudition of a scholar. 

During their residence in this country, they 
have been attentive to its interests. As far back 
as 1795, the elder gentleman proposed an Agri- 
cultural Society for this district, and addressed it 
in a luminous speech. 

I was penetrated with the most profound re- 
spect, when I witnessed the various and extensive 
acquirements of this man. He is a perfect master 
of all the Greek and Roman authors — skilled in 
Hebrew, the Syriac, and the other oriental langua- 
ges — with the German and French he is perfectly 
acquainted — His mind is a great and inexhausti- 
ble store-house of knowledge ; and I could per- 
ceive no deficiency, except in his not being per* 
fectly acquainted with the modern discoveries in 
natural science, which arises in a great degree 
from his sequestered lite. He manages an exten- 
sive correspondence with many learned men in 
Europe, as well as America. And although I 
had never heard of him before, yet I am happy to 
understand that his merits are justly appreciated 
by some of the first men in this country. 

He has lately been complimented with a degree 
of Doctor of Laws, by a celebrated university of 
New-England. He is now employed by the state 



AMERICAN CHARACTER. 219 

of New-York in translarting its Dutch Records — 
and through the munificence of David Parish, 
the great banker, he will be enabled to have 
transcripts of the records of the Dutch West India 
Company to fill up an important chasm in the his- 
tory of this great state. 

Thus, my friend, I have made a great discove- 
ry. In a secluded, unassuming village, I have 
discovered the most learned man in America, cul- 
tivating, like our first parent, his beautiful and 
spacious garden with his own hands — cultivating 
literature and science — cultivating the virtucg 
which adorn the fire side and the altar — cultiva- 
ting the esteem of the wise and the good — and 
blessing with the radiations of his illumined and 
highly gifted mind, all who enjoy his conversa- 
jtion, and who are honored by his correspondence. 



LETTER L. 

Utica, September, 1820. 
My Dear Sir, 

In the course of my tours, I frequently meet 
with extraordinary characters — indeed, I think 
that there are more persons of this description in 
this, than in any other country. Eccentricities 
and peculiarities of conduct will always prevail 



2^0 SINGULAR CHARACTER. 

most in democratic countries, where freedom is 
indulged in all the modifications of thought, 
speech, and action, that do not infringe on the 
laws ; and as the popidation of America is deri- 
ved from almost all the nations of Europe, it must 
unquestionably combine heterogenous qualities, 
which have not as yet been moulded into unifor- 
mity and sameness. What Rochester in his witty 
poem upon nothing said ironically, may, as it re- 
spects part of the tirst, and the whole of the second 
line, be applied in sober seriousness to the Ameri- 
can people : 

** French truth, Dulch proioess, British policy, 

Hibernian learning, Scotch civilili/, 

Spaniard's despatch, Dane s wit, are mainly seen in thee.' 

In my last voyage on the canal, I met with an 
old s0a Captain, who appeared to unite in his 
character the honest bluntness arid generous 
frankiiess of a sailor, with the characteristic in- 
genuity and enterprising spirit of t'le Yankee. 
He 'nad before the revolution commanded sea ves- 
sels from eastern ports. He had often doubled 
Cape Horn, and pursued the whale in the great 
South Saa. He had visited many of the ports of 
Great Britain, and every island in the West Indies 
was familiar to him. At the breaking out of the 
Revolutionary war, he entered on board a priva- 



SINGULAR CHARACTEB. 221 

teer as second in command — was captured by a 
50 gun ship — and incarcerated in the prison-ship 
in New-York, where he lingered out years of 
squalid wretchedness. On the return of peace, he 
resumed his profession ; but being thrown out of 
business by the system of commercial restrictions, 
he turned his eyes to the regions of the west, and 
procuring a batteau, he embarked with his wife, 
family, and furniture, from a small port in Con.- 
necticut. Like our first parents — ■ 

"The world was all before them, where to choose 
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide." 

He sailed up the Hudson river to Albany, and 
after convejdng his boat and accompaniments by 
land to Schenectady, he navigated the Mohawk 
to Rome. After many unsuccessful attempts to 
select a residence, he finally fixed his habitation 
near the Oneida Creek. On the day of his arri- 
val, he erected a shed with a bark covering, open 
at the sides. In the centre he kindled a fire, and 
committing themselves to the guardian care of 
Providence, the family, after a homely rep as?, 
spread themselves for sleep on the ground, sere- 
naded by the growling of bears, the howling of 
wolves, and the barking of foxes. The next day, 
the bark shed was converted into a building called 
a chanty, and the dwelling has since become a 
single story frame house of humble dimension?. 
L 



222 SINGULAR CHARACTER. 

It is useless to describe the early sufierings of 
this family in a new country, in a new theatre of 
action — without neighbors to assist — without phy- 
sicians to heal — without ministers of the gospel to 
console. The cultivation of a garden, a corn- 
field, a potatoe patch, and the rearing of poultry, 
hogs, and cows, em[Aoyed all their attention. In 
a few years, settlements were formed round them, 
and as the blessings of comfort, societ}^, and plen- 
ty, were brightening about them, the wife of the 
old seaman died. His children were married, 
and had removed to a distance — and his only 
consolation was an orphan grand-daughter, which 
his deceased wife had brought up. She acted as 
his nurse — his house-keeper — and superintended 
all his domestic economy. 

When death separates in old age those who 
have been united in marriage, and who have lived 
in the reciprocations of affection, the survivor 
rarely lives any length of time. Haeret lateri le- 
thalis arundo. The gangrene of the heart is in- 
curable. A morbid melancholy, which continu- 
ally increases by nursing its sorrows, and brood- 
ing over its afflictions, gradually, if not quickly^ 
imdermines the vital principle. 

The old sailor was in this situation for a year, 
going to his fmal resting place, with slow, but un- 
ceasijig steps ; and all the consolations of friend- 



SINGULAR CHARACTER. 223 

ship, and employments of labor were incompetent 
to rouse him from his sorrows, and to stimulate 
him into enjoyment. He kept his eye steadily 
fixed on futurity, and he looked forward with ex- 
ultation to the period when he should be united 
with his departed friends in another and a better 
world. 

He continued in this state of mind until the ca- 
nal was completed from Utica to Montezuma. It 
passed close by his door. In the early stages of 
its progress, he considered it with apathy, if not 
with contempt — but the first boat which passed 
by his house awakened Iiis slumbering energies. 
There was indeed something grand, sublime and 
animating in the scene — the shouts of spectators— 
the huzzas from the boat— 

. " The neighing steed, and the shrill trump, 

The spirit stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, 

The Eagle banner — and all quality, 

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious exultation.*' 

He entered the vessel and was delighted. He cal- 
led to his mind the adventures of his 3^outh — the 
pursuits of his manhood — and the busding scenes 
of his active life. He returned, and slept well. 
He rose in the morning as lively and as joyous as 
the lark. He thought he could also construct a 
boat, and on a better plan— he set to work, and 
succeeded. He is now in full requisition for that 



224 SINGULAR CHARACTER; 

purpose. He is surrounded by plenty, and bis 
time is constantly engaged in bis new vocation. 
Thus b}' a singular metamorphosis the ship mas- 
ter of the ocean, has become a boat builder on 
the western canal ; and whenever the demon of 
melancholy, like the evil spirit of Saul, attempts 
to take possession of him, a trip on the great arti- 
ficial water operates like the harp of the sweet 
singer of Israel. 

I am, &;c. 

HIBERNICUS. 




'^ 



28 



